France seeks tighter limits on Ukraine’s non-EU arms procurement

Filed 1mo ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

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Local Forecast - Elevator

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: European Parliament · CC BY 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

France is pushing to tighten exemptions that let Ukraine buy military equipment outside the EU using funds from a 90 billion euro EU loan, aiming to steer more of that money toward European, and particularly French, defense manufacturers. Current rules cap non-EU purchases at 35% of total value, with exemptions available when Europe can't supply the goods.

Ukraine has already secured exemptions for Chinese drone components and U.S.-made Patriot interceptors, which the European Commission approved after acknowledging Europe lacks sufficient production capacity. France wants those exemptions treated as temporary rather than open-ended.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

Europe's largest defense producer suddenly discovering the virtues of buying European is not exactly a plot twist. Ukraine needs functioning air defense now, not a French industrial policy dressed up as wartime solidarity, and the distinction between the two seems to be exactly what's under negotiation.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: Local Forecast - Elevator · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0