London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Brussels unveils plan to boost EU defense industry

Brussels unveils plan to boost EU defense industry

Contentiously, the framework would allow tapping new sources of EU money.

European Commission industry chief Thierry Breton has urged European defense companies to get into “war economy mode” as he unveiled a new plan to boost weapons manufacturing across the EU.

The Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) agreed Wednesday by the European Commission will pump some €500 million from the EU budget into European shell factories to boost weapons manufacturing — matched with co-financing of around €500 million from member countries and other sources.

The aim is to produce 1 million rounds of ammunition within one year.

“In Europe, we still have a real production capacity. It’s there,” Breton said in announcing the plan Wednesday. “What we need to do now is to bring up capacity.”

The framework would controversially permit dipping into new pots of EU cash originally intended for boosting development around the Continent.

In visiting a dozen-plus producers across the EU, the French commissioner says that many sites already have the infrastructure required to make vast amounts of large ammunition. Much of the focus will be on refitting old ammunition.

“In addition to the direct budget, we are also freeing up funding from the cohesion funds,” Breton told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook on Tuesday, “and also the RRF [Recovery and Resilience Facility funds] for those member states that wish to co-finance their defense industry.” Such funding, Breton argued, “will hopefully re-trigger access to private financing, either via the European Investment Bank, or from [private] banks.”

It’s part of a push to use the EU budget to produce ammo.

Asked Wednesday how he justified dipping into the cohesion and RRF funds for European defense, Breton pointed out that many factories were built in isolated areas. As a result, cohesion funds are “entirely appropriate and well-suited” and would “support our industrial base.”

Similarly, he said that the RRF “will increase our resilience … and our security is clearly part of that.”

He also noted that it will be up to member countries to access cohesion funds.

VMZ Sopot armaments factory, Bulgaria. The EU Commission is to pump €500 million into European shell factories to boost weapons manufacturing


But an EU diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, has said that even if use of these funding sources “is resolved and legally possible, recovery plans and programming for cohesion funds have already been agreed,” meaning they would have to be renegotiated with the Commission in order to become available.

“Those are difficult and time-consuming processes … so how feasible is it that funds from either source would be available within a reasonable timeframe?” the diplomat added.

The latest defense proposal unveiled by the Commission represents the third of a three-track process spearheaded by European leaders in the wake of the war in Ukraine as the EU scrambles to boost its defense capacity and develop a pan-EU defense strategy.

European leaders agreed to the three-track approach at the end of March.

Parallel to Wednesday’s announcement, EU ambassadors on Wednesday reached a preliminary agreement on the so-called track 2 element of the defense proposal, which aims to spend €1 billion on joint procurement of ammunition and missiles over the next year.

The deal was announced by Sweden, which holds the rotating presidency of the Council, and will become official on Friday if no member country objects.

The challenge was to agree on the legal framework for track 2. Countries had been squabbling over the terms of the program, with some — notably France — reluctant to include non-EU manufacturers in the supply chain.

Speaking today about track 3, Breton said, “We want of course [that] projects are produced in Europe.”

The compromise text for track 2, seen by POLITICO, states that “ammunitions and missiles which have undergone an important stage of manufacture in the Union or Norway which consists of final assembly shall be deemed eligible.”

A different EU diplomat, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely, praised Swedish agility in the negotiations: “The Presidency has done a very good job of combining the need to devote track 2 to the European defense industry, so that it ramps up in the production of ammunition and missiles … and the specific characteristics of the defense industry of each of the member states.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
Tens of Thousands of Young Chinese Get Up Every Morning and Go to Work Where They Do Nothing
×