European Commission President: Ukraine Should Be Integrated into EU Defence Programmes

President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that Ukraine should be integrated into the EU's defence programmes to help meet its needs in the war against Russian invasion. This was reported by Reuters.

According to von der Leyen, the European Union should take into account Ukraine's military needs when determining the future strategy of the EU defence industry.

"Our strategy can only be complete when it also takes into account Ukraine's needs and industrial potential... The first step to achieve this is to involve Ukraine in the consultation process on the Industrial Strategy... This should lead to the integration of Ukraine into some of our defence programmes, with the consent of the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, where necessary," von der Leyen said in her speech at the annual conference of the European Defence Agency.

According to the President of the European Commission, her body intends to propose a European Defence Industry Programme early next year, which will also consider ways to finance the industry.

According to her, as part of this programme, the Commission will try to understand how it can ensure that the defence industry's contribution to European security is recognised by sustainable financial investors.

Next year, the EU defence industry should meet the target of increasing its ammunition production capacity to 1 million rounds per year, von der Leyen added.

This goal is unrelated to the EU's plan to provide Ukraine with 1 million artillery shells and missiles within a year, a goal that German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and other officials have said is unlikely to be met.

Earlier, Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said that the EU should postpone the sale of ammunition to third countries in order to provide it to Ukraine.

As reported by The Gaze, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday that Ukraine had fulfilled "almost" all the requirements for starting EU accession talks ahead of a key European Council summit in December.

The EU is expected to announce the start of accession talks with Ukraine, which was granted candidate status in June, after a summit of European leaders in Brussels in mid-December.