The proposals are part of an acute five-point plan, Uprust EU, ahead of the member states' summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Europe is ready to massively increase its defense spending, both in the short term to support Ukraine, but also in the long term to take responsibility for our own security, says Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at a press conference.
The plan includes, above all, easing EU's otherwise strict budget rules so that countries do not have to risk fines and austerity measures for investments and loans to defense. In total, it could mean up to 650 billion euros (7,200 billion kronor) for defense – if all countries increase their defense spending by an average of 1.5 percent of GDP.
New Billion Fund
The Commission is also proposing a new EU fund where 150 billion euros (1,600 billion kronor) will be made available for loans that member states can use for joint investments in, for example, air defense, artillery, drones, and ammunition.
With this equipment, member states will be able to increase their support for Ukraine enormously, immediately, says von der Leyen.
Point three is that EU countries will have the opportunity to use regional support funds for defense purposes, while points four and five deal with getting more private money into defense through the European Investment Bank, EIB, and accelerating EU's savings and investment union.
No from Hungary?
At the same time, EU Foreign Minister Kaja Kallas is trying to get a separate proposal through to also help Ukraine acutely with at least 200 billion kronor in support.
According to the news site Politico Europe, Hungary and Slovakia are saying a flat no, which has led to the formulation about the support being temporarily removed from the statement that EU countries hope to agree on at the summit on Thursday.
There are still hopes of circumventing the opposing countries by making it voluntary for member states to participate.
"Europe must take care of its own deterrence and defense", writes EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a letter to EU countries about her five-point plan to uprust EU.
For the new EU fund of 150 billion euros, it is intended that the EU Commission will be able to take out loans for member states that wish to do so and cannot take out equally cheap loans themselves. However, it is not intended that leftover funds from EU's coronavirus fund will be used, despite speculation about it.
To get an exemption from budget rules, a clear definition must first be made of what can be considered defense investments, announces the EU Commission.
