EU plans to give Ukraine access to British weapons using €90bn loan – Bloomberg

The EU plans to allow Ukraine to purchase British weapons using €60 billion, the military portion of the EU's €90 billion loan.

Source: European Pravda citing Bloomberg

Details: The sources say that after months of negotiations, the EU is close to reaching an agreement with the UK government that will allow British companies to take part in the programme.

The announcement is likely to come as early as next week, at a meeting in Paris bringing together the Coalition of the Willing countries.

According to the sources, the UK government would make a financial contribution as Ukraine decides to use the loan to purchase military equipment from British companies.

The size of the contribution will be determined by the value of each contract and the cost of interest payments.

The deal is being viewed as a conciliatory gesture from the EU, after the two sides previously failed to reach agreement on the UK joining the EU's €150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence fund, with talks stalling over EU demands for the UK to pay for access.

The UK and some EU member states were disappointed by this outcome, which British officials say was blocked by France.

They said that negotiations on the loan for Ukraine progressed far more smoothly: member states, including the Netherlands, were particularly insistent on reaching a swift agreement, and there was broad recognition that it will benefit Ukraine by making it easier to purchase British weapons as the two countries' defence industries become better integrated.

Background:

• Back in May, it emerged that the UK plans to begin negotiations on joining the EU's £78 billion (around €90 billion) loan programme for Ukraine.
• At the time, European Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari said the UK must meet three conditions to join a project to provide Ukraine with the loan in 2026-2027.

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