Borrell calls for stronger defence industry to replenish depleting weapon stocks sent to Ukraine

Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has called on Europe to boost its defence industry to replenish depleting weapon stocks sent to Ukraine.

In a statement, Borrell said: “We need to boost our defence industrial and technological base. It was not clear to anybody before Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, but now it has become common sense. It is a prerequisite if we want to be able to strengthen our defence capacity in a tense geopolitical context.”

Borrell noted that, after two years of high-intensity war where Ukraine was provided weapons from EU allies, mainly from existing stocks, these existing stocks are now depleted and “the conflict has evolved from a war of stocks to a war of production”.

He said ammunition production needed to be boosted further, adding the constraint was “not so much a lack of production capacity, but rather a lack of orders and financing”, adding that industry leaders were saying “place orders and we will produce more”.

Borrell also called for EU member states to work together, noting they are “still not coordinating and pooling their defence planning and procurement enough”.

The High Representative added the EU needed to strengthen its cooperation with partners, and in particular Ukraine and its strong and innovative defence industrial base. “Visiting recently a Ukrainian plant to produce drones, I was very much impressed,” he said. “Strengthening the Ukrainian defence industrial base and helping it to cooperate closely with the European industry will be part of the EU’s future security commitments for Ukraine. To stimulate this cooperation, we will host an EU-Ukraine Defence Industry Forum this year and open an EU Defence Innovation Office in Kyiv.”  

He added that if Member States agreed, “we could use the windfall profits of Russian frozen assets to purchase arms for Ukraine and/or help strengthen its defence industry”. Borrell said discussion so far had focused on using these profits to support reconstruction.  “However, currently, the main issue in Ukraine is not so much reconstruction, but rather avoiding further destruction. If Member States agree, it would make sense to use these resources to procure additional military support for Ukraine through the European Peace Facility. In the longer term, we could also use these funds to support the Ukrainian defence industrial base.”

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