The EU will allow Ukraine to purchase British weapons using a €60 billion loan
The European Union is close to reaching an agreement that will allow Ukraine to use a €60 billion loan to purchase British arms. The deal could be announced next week.
The European Union plans to allow Ukraine to purchase British arms using a €60 billion loan earmarked for defence procurement. This was reported by Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the negotiations.
According to the agency’s sources, the EU and the UK government are close to concluding negotiations that have been ongoing for several months. It is expected that the agreement could be announced as early as next week during a meeting in Paris of the “coalition of the willing”, led by the UK and France.
The UK government has not commented on the agency’s report. The European Commission has also declined to comment. Meanwhile, the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinhu, said that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would visit Paris on Monday to attend a meeting on Ukraine.
According to sources, there is no fixed contribution envisaged for the UK’s participation in the programme. Instead, the British government will make a financial contribution in cases where Ukraine uses loan funds to purchase products from British defence companies. The size of the contribution will be determined based on the value of each contract and the interest costs.
The agreement is seen as a conciliatory step after the parties previously failed to reach an agreement on the UK’s participation in the €150 billion European defence fund, SAFE. Negotiations had previously reached an impasse due to disagreements over the terms of the UK’s access to the programme.
According to sources speaking to Bloomberg, negotiations on the Ukrainian loan progressed much more quickly. In particular, certain EU member states, including the Netherlands, were pushing for the agreement to be concluded as soon as possible. Negotiators also believe that the agreement will benefit Ukraine, as it will facilitate the procurement of British armaments against the backdrop of deepening cooperation between the two countries’ defence sectors.
According to the agency, European diplomats believe that in recent months Ukraine has gained a tactical advantage over Russia thanks to successful strikes on critical infrastructure. At the same time, the allies are seeking to step up their support for Ukraine with long-range weapons and air defence systems ahead of the winter, particularly following the recent massive Russian strikes on Kyiv.
Initially, it was planned to announce the agreement during the next summit between the UK and the European Union, alongside a possible decision on the UK’s access to the European fund for scaling up investment in technology companies. However, the summit has been postponed to a later date this year following the resignation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
According to Bloomberg, the key terms of the forthcoming defence loan agreement were agreed during the NATO summit, which took place in Ankara this week. There, Keir Starmer also held a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands.
