Proposal that will anger Putin: Let’s buy weapons for Ukraine with 200 billion euros seized from Russia
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European Union (EU) Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke about strengthening European defense at the European Parliament (EP) General Assembly session held in Strasbourg.
Stating that the Russia-Ukraine War has entered its third year, von der Leyen reminded that North Korea provides ammunition and Iran provides unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to Russia.
“The ongoing war in Gaza and widespread instability in the Middle East point to a period of insecurity and conflict in the region and beyond,” von der Leyen said. said.
“We need to start working on the future of the European security architecture.” von der Leyen noted that member countries increased their defense expenditures and national defense budgets increased by 20 percent compared to last year.
Von der Leyen pointed out that they have taken very important steps in increasing the defense industry and production capacity, and stated that they will double ammunition production in Europe by the end of 2025 and produce more than 2 million artillery shells annually.
“There is still a lot to do and we need to move quickly.” Using the statement, von der Leyen explained that one should be prepared and that member countries should urgently rebuild, renew and modernize their armed forces.
Von der Leyen emphasized that Europe should allocate more resources to defense and said that they will present their proposals for the first European Industrial Defense Strategy in the coming weeks.
Stating that one of the main objectives of the strategy and the Defense Investment Program prepared together is to give priority to joint defense purchases, von der Leyen stated that they can place orders together with the defense industry through pre-purchase agreements.
“The European defense industry needs access to capital.” von der Leyen called on the public and private sectors to support the defense industry.
Von der Leyen emphasized that she supports the idea of a membership responsible for the field of defense in the new commission to be determined after the EU elections.
“It is time to start discussing the issue of using windfall profits from frozen Russian assets to jointly purchase military equipment for Ukraine.” von der Leyen stated that using this money would be a powerful symbol and would make Europe and Ukraine safer.
EU countries froze approximately 200 billion euros of the Russian Central Bank due to the war. Financial institutions that hold Russian assets make a significant profit by reinvesting them as they mature.
The EU wants to target the revenues from this rather than the main money.
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