Check against delivery! 

Good morning, 

We had important discussions about Ukraine yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Council. Today, we will continue [with] the Defence Ministers. 

Together with the Defence Ministers, we will receive a visit from Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, who has been doing important announcements in the last days. Also, we will get in touch with Minister [Rustem] Umerov, Defence Minister of Ukraine.  

You know that the situation on the battlefield is reaching a critical stage. It is not a secret. Russia has opened a new front in the North and fighting, trying to advance towards Kharkiv. At the same, [they are] bombing systematically civilian targets – not only in Kharkiv, but also in the direction of Kyiv. 

This situation makes our military assistance [even] more important. Crucial. Critical. It can make the difference. 

That is why today, with the Defence Ministers, we will see how we push [to] overcome all the difficulties that prevent us from mobilising fully and quicker the resources of the European Peace Facility (EPF). 

We have seven legal acts, pending approval to mobilise about €6.6 billion – apart from the revenues coming from the frozen assets..  

For that, we have not [yet] discussed the legal acts, [which] could make us ready to use these funds once we get [them].  

But the funds we already have. 

There are seven legal acts that [are] still pending to be approved. 

Everybody knows what Ukraine needs. Yesterday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs [of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba], and I suppose today Minister [Rustem] Umerov will remind us [of] which are the critical needs for the Ukrainians. So, we have to provide them. 

We have the resources – that is the sad thing. We have the cash. We have the capacity, but we are still pending decisions to implement the recently approved Ukraine Assistance Fund. 

On the other [hand], to have a strong capacity to support Ukraine, we need a stronger defence industry. On that, we are working for the European Council [meeting] in June where proposals to finance the European defence will be presented. 

In the meantime, we had the EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum at the beginning of May, and we continue working to open the Innovation [Office] in Kyiv. 

I think the important thing is to put the basis for a better funding of the European defence development. We need more private funding and more public funding. 

We are exploring with the [European] Commission the possibilities and the ways to increase this capacity. 

Now, everybody agrees on that. Some months ago, when I presented the Strategic Compass, it was not so clear the will to invest and to push at all levels to increase our defence capacity.  

Today, it is obvious, it is clear. It will be the big issue [of] the European politics in the coming months.  

Before the Council [for Ministers of Defence], we will celebrate 20 years of the European Defence Agency. I will chair the board of the Defency Agency – 20 years [old]. The Ministers will approve a new strategic approach for the Agency’s work for the next 5 years.  

It [will give] the Agency more strength, more capacity, [and] more ambitious targets. 

The Agency has been doing a very important job that was silent until the war, until the Versailles meeting.  

Nobody was paying very much attention to the annual report of the Agency warning about the gaps, the defaults [in] the European capacity to defend [itself] because of the multiplication of armies’ capacities - diversity, fragmentation, not enough funding. The Agency has been saying that in the last 10 years. 

I hope that now with this new strategic approach, the [European] Defence Agency will be taken much more into consideration when we go to the defence problems in Europe. 

Q&A 

Q. Do you know why Hungary is blocking the disbursement of the European Peace Facility? 

Well, they have concerns which are not related exactly to the defence issue, about the way the Hungarian firms have been dealing with problems with Ukraine. Also, the way Ukraine is dealing with the Hungarian minorities on its territories. We are doing our best to solve these problems. But they have nothing to do with defence – it is a matter of defending their national interest. Everybody defends its national interest. They have the right to do so, but there has to be a certain proportionality in the way you defend your national interest and the consequences of the decision that you are blocking. 

Q. Greece and Poland suggested a European air defence shield financed by an EU program. What do you think about this initiative?  

Everything that is being done in a community approach, I am much in favour. In fact, it is my role as High Representative [Foreign Affairs and Security Policy]. My role is to build a common defence policy. What is a common defence policy? It is putting in common initiatives to increase the defence capacities. And this is being done by the proposals from the Member States or from my own proposals. So, I welcome that Member States say that to defend our airspace, why should we look at that in a fragmented manner? “This is my airspace; this is your airspace.” Internal market is something that belongs to the Member States – all of them, together. Why not an “internal airspace”? Why not consider the airspace of the EU Member States as a unique airspace? You cannot say to a rocket: “Oh no, you are entering the airspace of the Czech Republic. Now, you are entering the airspace of Italy.” The airspace of Europe is the airspace of Europe.  

So, to protect it in a community manner, perfect. But the devil is in the details. Then, we start thinking: where will these air defences be put? At the border – which border? With which capacities? With which funding? You know that the EU budget cannot buy arms. At least it has been, until now, the agreed doctrine. Until now, this was the doctrine, and I think it is the right interpretation of our Treaty. That is why we invented the European Peace Facility, to have an “off-budget” – something which is not part of the budget, not submitted to constraints. Not under the control of the [European] Court of Justice, not being voted by the [European] Parliament. Just a ‘’pot’’ created by Member States. If Member States want to create a tool to develop a common air defence, it would be fantastic.  

The Ministers of Defence should talk about it today. I am sure they will. We can create perfectly a specific fund – a governmental fund – to, all together, create a common defence capacity. Do it inside the European Peace Facility, or do it wherever you want. They have the capacity of doing that, they have done it. I will open the door to discussions today about this.  

 Q. Did you get briefed yesterday – or will you get briefed – on the sabotage and arson attacks that are taking place across Europe? Arson attacks [on] shopping centres, warehouses that are put on fire, with a suggestion that Russia may be behind them. 

I cannot say what I do not know. Maybe, yes, maybe not. I cannot blame someone without having strong evidence. 

Q. Do you have any concerns that the delivery of weapons from the Czech initiative, and from America, is slower than expected? 

Well, the Czech President [Petr Pavel] recognised the other day that, certainly, it is slower than expected. You know, unhappily, everything is slower than expected. The initiative was announced [at] the end of February, at the Munich [Security] Conference. We are at the end of May – it means three months. For the time being, we are talking about 80,000 (correction – around 46,000) [rounds of] ammunitions that could reach the battlefield by the end of June. It shows that between the ‘saying’ and the ‘doing’, all of us, we face some difficulties. In any case, this initiative should be able to complement others in order to give more ammunition to Ukraine. Everything that could do that is good. But sometimes, we anticipate big figures [in the] short-term.  

In fact, the terms are longer because everything has [some] difficulty. Maybe Russia has been doing [what] they [can] to prevent this supply of ammunition [from] happening.  

Q. Are you in favour of setting new goals for the training mission to Ukraine? Could it be possible to train 100,000 troops until the end of the year? 

Well, the training mission [EUMAM Ukraine] has been very successful. [Over 50,000 soldiers have been trained]. It is a matter of resources.   

If Member States want to continue training Ukrainian troops, I will open the funding of the European Peace Facility. And certainly, if Ukraine wants to increase the conscription, wants to increase the number of troops – a soldier without training is useless. A soldier without training is just a matter of killing people without any kind of support to the fighting. And training becomes more and more complicated because it is not the classical war where you have to know the basics.  

This war is complicated. It requires electronic warfare. There is a lot of problems with mines. So, the soldiers have to be trained. The training of a soldier to participate in this war is a matter of weeks – it is longer than that. All Member States have been participating. Today, we will see if we are – I hope we will [be] – ready to increase the number. This is a matter of saving lives. You send a soldier to the front line without adequate training and [they] will be in a very dire situation. 

Then there is the issue of [whether] we allow the arms to be used to target out of the Ukrainian soil, as Jens Stoltenberg proposed the other day. Do we allow our arms to be used, further, in Russian territory? Well, some Member States have started deciding that – taking this constraint out. Another important thing to discuss today. 

Q. Is it necessary, from your view?  

Well, according [to] the law of war, it is perfectly possible. There is no contradiction. I could retaliate or I could fight against the one who fights against me from [their] territory. [The] risk of escalation, I am sure, will be put on the table by some. But you have to balance the risk of escalation and the need for Ukrainians to defend [themselves]. 

Certainly, you cannot go where the attacks are coming from. You are [in a] completely asymmetric situation. More and more it becomes crucial, because the attacks to Kyiv will come from the Russian territory. 

Q. Putin is offering peace negotiations, can this be taken seriously?  

Peace negotiations? Everybody is putting a lot of pressure on everybody for the June [Ukraine Peace] Conference [to] be a success. Russia is doing the same thing. They have called a meeting of the BRICS in Moscow to put pressure on them, [to] not go to the conference. If they do not want people going to the conference, it means that the conference is important.

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-257874 

CONTACTS

NABILA MASSRALI - SPOKESPERSON FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY

Tel: +32 (0) 2 29 88093
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Email: Nabila.massrali@ec.europa.eu

XAVIER CIFRE QUATRESOLS - PRESS OFFICER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY POLICY

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Email: xavier.cifre-quatresols@ec.europa.eu