MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th July, 2023) The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a provisional deal on Friday to support a ramp-up in ammunition production, the Spanish defense minister, who holds the rotating Council of the EU presidency for the next six months, has said.
The tentative pact needs the backing of EU leaders and the Parliament and is expected to take effect before the end of July.
"Thanks to today's record time agreement on ASAP the EU will bolster and speed up Europe's own production of ammunition and missiles," Margarita Robles said in a statement.
The Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) aims to provide 500 million Euros ($544 million) from the EU budget to boost the production of surface-to-surface and artillery ammunition, as well as missiles. The financial support will come in the form of grants.
It comes less than four months after the EU agreed to speed up the production of ammunition to provide Ukraine with 1 million rounds over the next 12 months.
