European Parliament approves plans to provide more ammunition for Ukraine

Brussels: The European Parliament adopted plans to increase EU production of ammunition and missiles to address the current shortage.

According to the text, agreed upon with Council last week, the Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) aims to accelerate the delivery of ammunition and missiles to Ukraine and to help member states restock their arsenals.

By introducing targeted measures, including €500 million in financing, ASAP aims to ramp up the EU’s production capacity to address the current shortage of defence products, specifically artillery ammunition, missiles and their components.

Now the legislation also needs to be endorsed by the Council of the EU in order to become law.

The ASAP comes in response to a Ukrainian request to the EU to supply 155 mm-calibre artillery rounds and the agreement of the Council on 20 March 2023 on a three-track proposal on ammunition. Member states have been invited to urgently transfer ammunition from their own stocks to Ukraine (Track 1). EU countries have agreed to jointly procure one million ammunition rounds (Track 2). Track 3 aims to ramp up production capacity in the European defence industry.