The European Commission will halve the common defense procurement fund for Ukraine.

According to Euractiv, in July 2022 the EU executive proposed creating the EDIRPA initiative to stimulate urgent weapons purchases by EU member states to replenish their stocks and provide military support to Ukraine. The initiative had envisaged a budget of €500M for two years.

Due to several issues, the EC is considering reducing the fund to €250M over the course of the year. This is in response to delays in negotiations and proposals for new processes to respond to urgent supply needs. It is noted that the program will not be able to achieve its primary goal of replenishing essential ammunition stocks and supplying weapons to Ukraine.

In addition, in March EU countries agreed to send and jointly purchase €4B worth of ammunition. But these purchases do not meet EDIRPA’s legal requirements. The released €250M can be redirected to the European Defense Investment Program (EDIP) to increase long-term defense production.