Olaf Scholz and four other European leaders have admitted that the EU has “fallen short” of its goals to supply Ukraine with artillery ammunition.
On the eve of an emergency EU summit of EU leaders designed to break the deadlock between member states and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán over a £50bn aid package, they have warned that Europe needs to intensify and accelerate its supplies to the frontline.
“At the beginning of last year, the EU committed itself to an ambitious goal of supplying Ukraine with 1m artillery rounds before the end of March 2024. The hard truth: we have fallen short of this goal.
“Russia doesn’t wait for anybody and we need to act now. If Ukraine loses, the long-term consequences and costs will be much higher for all of us. We Europeans have a special responsibility. Therefore, we must act. Europe’s future depends on it,” they write in a letter published in the Financial Times on Wednesday.
The letter is signed by Scholz and Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister; Kaja Kallas, the Estonian prime minister; Petr Fiala, the Czech prime minister; and Mette Frederiksen, the prime minister of Denmark.
The German chancellor is on a mission to get clarity and hard evidence on what other member states, particularly France, contribute to the war effort amid concern that his government’s commitments are not being matched elsewhere.
After he raised concerns that there was not enough data on who contributed what, the EU’s diplomatic unit, the European External Action Service, has conducted a survey requesting that each member state disclose their planned expenditure for 2024 and beyond.
Sources say some countries have declined to reveal their commitments, fuelling suspicion that some member states are using confidentiality of military plans for convenience.
In their letter the five leaders say the support shown by the EU to Ukraine so far has had “tangible success” and prevented Russia from achieving its initial aim of overcoming Kyiv within days or weeks.
“But our efforts must not wither,” they warn.
“We must renew our resolve and redouble our efforts in order to ensure that we sustain our support for as long as it takes. What is urgent today is to provide the ammunition and weapon systems, including howitzers, tanks, UAVs and air defence, that Ukraine so urgently needs on the ground. Now. Because new orders we place today will only reach the battlefield by next year,” they added.
When the war started, Germany was initially reluctant to abandon the pacifist policy it has maintained since the second world war and offered just 5,000 helmets to Ukraine.
Under pressure, Berlin changed its position and it is now the single biggest supporter of Ukraine’s military effort in the EU, with an estimated €17bn (£14.5bn) contributed in the past two years. A further €7.4bn has been committed in the budget for the year ahead.
The Kiel Institute, which tracks military support, shows other big economies in the EU lagging far behind.
According to its tracker, up to 31 July last year France had committed about €533m, the UK €6.6bn and neighbouring Lithuania €715m.
In response to criticism it was not doing enough, a French parliamentary report in November last year estimated the cost of arms delivered and military training provided at €3.2bn.
In a recent update, tracking the contributions from 31 October to 24 January, the Kiel Institute found a 90% drop in contributions compared with the same period in 2022.
“Ukraine now increasingly relies on a core group of donors such as the US, Germany, and the Nordic and eastern European countries that continue to pledge and deliver both financial aid and important weaponry, such as F-16 fighter jets,” it said.
Last month, the European commissioner for the internal market, Thierry Breton, said EU suppliers were “close” to achieving their target of annual supplies of 1m ammunition round a year.
However, he urged member states to do more to both ramp up supplies and to urge their defence contractors to pivot supplies outside Europe towards an EU stockpile.
