US EditionEU Frees up Billions in Covid Cash for Defense Spending
- On Wednesday, the European Union announced it plans to allocate 335 billion euros originally intended for Covid-19 recovery toward defense initiatives within member countries.
- This move follows the Resilience and Recovery Facility's initial purpose for pandemic relief, with some countries requesting deadline extensions amid uncertain agreement on the plan.
- The redirected funds will support defense initiatives like satellite communication and the European Defence Industry Programme, aiming to boost weapons procurement and production capacity.
- Economy Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis explained that these options may enable the Recovery Facility to support key shared European goals, particularly in the fields of security and defense.
- The shift signals a strategic change driven by the Russia-Ukraine war's impact, but the plan requires approval from 20 parliaments, which may delay implementation and reflects ongoing political debate.
13 Articles
13 Articles
The EU executive informed Member States that it could redirect hundreds of billions of euros from aid funds for the COVID-19 pandemic to finance defence projects, reflecting a radical change in priorities since the beginning...
Announcements and recommendations from the European Commission - What Athens expects
Rome, 5 June 2025 - Unused EU Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) funds could support voluntary national contributions to the future European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), also known as EDIP, according to a recently published Communication from the Commission. The EDIP programme aims to help the European Defence Industry to permanently increase its productive capacity by encouraging joint military procurement agreements between several E…
The European Commission has given the green light to EU member states to use the remaining money from the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF) to finance defense projects, including accelerating weapons production, according to Politico. The decision concerns a remaining amount of approximately 335 billion euros, out of a total of 650 billion euros allocated in 2021 for the post-pandemic recovery. Initially, the fund was intended for the green tra…
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