EU will discuss plan to increase production of artillery shells to one million per year

On Wednesday, the European Commission will propose a plan to increase the production capacity for the production of artillery shells to one million a year against the background of the need to meet the military needs of Ukraine and replenish its own reserves.

Source: European Pravda with reference to AFP, this was stated by Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for Internal Market Affairs.

The European Commission's plan, which will be released on Wednesday, provides for the use of 500 million euros from the EU budget to increase the production of ammunition. The funds will be used to finance new production lines for howitzer shells and missiles, increase the production of gunpowder and upgrade old ammunition.

Funds from the EU budget will finance about 50% of shell production projects, and member states will have to find the other half. Thus, the total cost of the plan will be one billion euros.

"When it comes to defence, our industry must now switch to war economy mode. I am confident that within 12 months we will be able to increase our production capacity to one million rounds per year in Europe," Breton said.

"The act we are proposing is unprecedented. It aims to directly support, with EU money, the ramp-up of our defence industry for Ukraine and for our own security," he added.

The European commissioner acknowledged that the EU defence industry "does not have the scale today to meet the security needs of Ukraine and our member states. But it has the potential to do so," Breton said.

The decision, which will be proposed by the European Commission on 3 May, should be the last link to implement the EU plan to provide Kyiv with artillery shells to counter the full-scale Russian invasion.

Earlier, the EU promised to spend two billion euros to provide Ukraine with one million artillery shells over the next year by using inventory and placing joint orders. But now this plan has slowed down due to member states' dispute regarding whether the funds can be allocated to producers outside the European Union.

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