{"id":126287,"date":"2025-05-23T21:31:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T21:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/126287\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T21:31:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T21:31:09","slug":"loan-scheme-to-rearm-europe-could-be-important-breakthrough-in-ukraine-support-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/126287\/","title":{"rendered":"Loan scheme to rearm Europe could be \u2018important breakthrough\u2019 in Ukraine support \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u20ac150 billion loans programme to rearm Europe that was finalised this week could be \u201ca very important breakthrough\u201d in the EU\u2019s military support for Ukraine<\/a>, the bloc\u2019s defence commissioner has said.<\/p>\n

Andrius Kubilius, a former prime minister of Lithuania who is the EU\u2019s<\/a> first defence commissioner, said he expected several member states to request EU-backed loans under the Security Action for Europe (Safe) scheme, which was approved on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The European Commission<\/a> proposed the \u20ac150 billion loans alongside flexibilities in the bloc\u2019s fiscal rules as part of an \u20ac800 billion rearmament plan, which was hastily drawn up after US president Donald Trump\u2019s decision to suspend all US military aid to Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Once the loans agreement is rubber-stamped next week, EU member states have six months to draw up plans for defence projects they wish to fund. \u201cMember states will take those loans… and will use them for joint procurement together with Ukraine and for Ukrainian needs,\u201d Mr Kubilius told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

British defence companies will also have greater opportunities to be involved in defence projects funded by the scheme as a result of the EU-UK security pact signed on Monday. The UK and EU are expected to sign a technical agreement on Safe that will require a yet-to-be determined administrative fee from London. The British government, however, does not intend to seek access to the EU-backed loans, which are designated for EU member states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe cannot complain that 340 million Americans are not ready forever to defend 450 million Europeans against 140 million Russians,\u201d said Mr Kubilius, playing down European differences with the Trump administration. \u201cWe can dislike language and messages, but what we need to avoid really is what I call angry and chaotic divorce [with the US]. We need to go into a very rational agreement on a division of responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expressed confidence that EU member states would deepen national debts to spend the \u20ac800 billion possible defence spending identified by the commission.<\/p>\n

So far, 15 countries, including Germany and Poland, have announced they intend to use the flexibilities in the EU\u2019s fiscal rules, but some large and heavily indebted economies have held back, including France, Italy and Spain. <\/p>\n

These countries, which are among the least generous donors to Ukraine, are thought to be reluctant to increase debts for defence. Consequently, some sources in Brussels remain sceptical that the EU will meet the \u20ac800 billion headline figure.<\/p>\n

The EU commissioner, nevertheless, said Europe could fill any shortfall in US military aid for Ukraine.<\/p>\n

By the third anniversary of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion \u2013 February 24 \u2013 Europe had provided Ukraine with \u20ac62 billion in military aid, compared with \u20ac64 billion from the US, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. <\/p>\n

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Europe had also sent \u20ac70 billion in humanitarian and financial aid, compared with \u20ac50 billion from the US. To replace US aid flows, Europe would need to spend 0.21 per cent of GDP, according to the Kiel Institute, compared with what its analysts described as the \u201cminor effort\u201d of 0.1 per cent of GDP being spent today.<\/p>\n

An additional 0.1 per cent \u201cof course is not zero, but also it is not something which would destroy our financial situation\u201d, Mr Kubilius said. \u2013 Guardian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u20ac150 billion loans programme to rearm Europe that was finalised this week could be \u201ca very important…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,9041],"class_list":{"0":"post-126287","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-european","11":"tag-ukraine-crisis"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114559286473940887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}