The European Parliament adopted the so-called ASAP (Act in Support of Ammunition Production) on Thursday, June 1st, greenlighting the investment of half a billion euros into boosting Europe’s arms production capabilities. This marks the first time in history that the EU budget will be directly used by the bloc’s defense industry.
The bill enjoyed almost unanimous support among the 600 MEPs present in the plenary chamber, with 518 voting for the adoption and only 59 against.
To recap, the ASAP was designed as the third facet of the Commission’s three-track plan to strengthen Ukraine’s and the EU’s defense capabilities. In a bid to speed up ammunition production across the bloc, ASAP promises €500 million in subsidies for various weapons industry plants throughout the member states.
Together with the financial instruments pledged to secure the viability of the other two tracks (one, reimbursing countries that send their own weapons to Ukraine and two, the joint procurement of over one million artillery rounds and other armaments for Ukraine within the year), the EU’s central rearmament schemes add up to a total of €3 billion.
As we reported previously, the European Parliament last month approved the EPP’s initiative to fast-track the legislation in order to avoid bottlenecks after disagreement surfaced among the member states as to who should (and who should not) be awarded the €1 billion worth of contracts and even whether the production should stay in Europe.
With the European Parliament officially on board, further negotiations can start with the Commission and the Council right away, with Brussels hoping to finalize the ammunition deal during the latter’s upcoming summit in July.
