European Parliament to speed up purchase of ammunition for Ukraine

Manfred Weber, head of the European People's Party, has called for an accelerated vote on plans to increase munitions production to aid Ukraine. He wants the European Parliament to support a corresponding act as early as this month.

This is reported by Politico.

In particular, Manfred Weber wrote about it in a letter to European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, this document came into the possession of the publication.

“In view of the urgent need to help Ukraine in filling up its ammunition stocks, the EPP Group would like to request an urgent procedure pursuant to Rule 163 of Parliament’s Rules of Procedure,” Weber wrote in his letter, dated May 5.

Thus, in March, EU ministers asked Brussels to draft a law to use the EU budget to increase defense production capacity in Europe to achieve these goals.

Last week, the Commission approved plans to increase EU ammunition production capacity by using 500 million euros from the EU budget into European munitions factories to increase weapons production – along with co-financing of about 500 million euros from member states and other sources.

The bill, called the Ammunition Production Support Act (ASAP), aims to produce 1 million rounds of ammunition in one year.

However, European Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton did not speed up consideration of the bill to bypass lengthy parliamentary committee procedures, hoping that MEPs themselves would decide to speed up consideration.

MEPs will reportedly hold a debate today on whether to speed up approval of the act. Weber wants MEPs to consider the issue as early as Tuesday, with a final vote on approving the ASAP taking place at the end of May.

As a reminder, on May 3, the EU Council approved a decision on 1 billion euros in aid for Ukraine for joint ammunition and missile procurement.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 08/05/2023