Slovenian Defense Minister Marjan Šarec will sign an agreement with the European Defence Agency (EDA) on joining the project of joint purchases of artillery ammunition for Ukraine.

Source: European Pravda, referring to RTV Slovenija

Details: The decision was made at a meeting of EU defence and foreign ministers as part of the plan for the supply of artillery ammunition to Ukraine, which provides for the provision of one million artillery shells over the next 12 months.

As the Ministry of Defence of Slovenia explains, the agreement sets the limits of the participation of member states in the project and "will not create any financial obligations for the Republic of Slovenia, as it only sets the framework for further cooperation".

Thus, Slovenia will join the joint procurement of ammunition under the EDA project, which is joined by 23 EU member states and Norway.

Background: On 20 March, the Council of the European Union agreed on a plan for the delivery of one million artillery shells to Ukraine within 12 months, which consists of three stages.

At the first stage, EU member states will transfer shells from their reserves to Kyiv, receiving compensation from the European Peace Fund – a total of one billion euros will be allocated for this. At the second stage, the same amount of funds will be allocated for concluding contracts with manufacturers of artillery ammunition, and then the EU states will expand their own production capacity.

But member states continue to argue over some details – in particular, how much these contracts should be restricted to manufacturers from the EU and whether companies from the US and UK should be included in the programme. 

Politico news outlet, citing sources in diplomatic circles, reported that on Wednesday, France and Poland had an argument when EU ambassadors failed to settle a dispute over joint EU contracts for the purchase of ammunition for Ukraine.

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