Brussels (Reuters) – The European Union finance ministers expressed interest in the idea of a joint defense fund that would buy and have defense equipment, but some also said the EU should first analyze the existing financing options before creating new ones.
The discussion is part of a European effort to prepare for a possible attack from Russia, as the EU governments have realized that they can no longer trust the United States anymore for their safety.
The ministers were discussing an idea, prepared by the Think Tank Bruegel, that a group of EU and outside EU countries could create an intergovernmental fund, with an integrated capital, that would take loans in the market and, together, buy and have expensive military equipment.
The participation of non -EU countries is important to many in the bloc because it would allow the involvement of the power of the UK defense, as well as Norway, Canada or Ukraine.
The fund, called the European Defense Mechanism (EDM in English), would be a way to address the issues of highly individualized countries, because the debt contracted to pay the equipment would be in EDM books, not in national bills.
“Most ministers were interested in the Bruegel document,” said Polish finance minister Andrzej Domanski, who chaired the negotiations.
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Some countries, such as France, Germany and Belgium, said, however, that the EU should first analyze existing instruments such as the European Investment Bank, the European Defense Fund and the Rearm Europe plan before creating new instruments.
According to the REAR Europe plan, the EU intends to increase military spending by 800 billion euros over the next four years by loosening fiscal rules on defense investments and loans for major EU budget defense projects.
