© AFP / Sergey BobokA Ukrainian operator uses a drone equipped with a metal detector to clear mines in Kharkov Region, Ukraine, October 1, 2023. Brussels proposes 'legal task force' to explore ways to use the common budget for defence. EU member states agreed in 2022 to finance weapons shipments to Ukraine, but only through a multilateral fund set up outside the EU budget.
The European Commission, the bloc's executive, has proposed that a legal task force revisit a crucial provision — known as Article 41(2) — that stops the EU common budget from funding "operations having military or defence implications", according to four people familiar with the discussions.
Any move to use the budget to purchase lethal weapons would mark the most significant shift in Brussels' defence policy since the start of the war against Ukraine.
Comment: As the terrorist attack in Russia demonstrates, an escalation has evidently been in the making.
If a more flexible legal interpretation is established and backed by member states — some of which have deep reservations about such a move — proponents hope it would allow Brussels to become a direct purchaser of lethal weapons, and play a bigger role in the continent's defence industry.
"It would be absolutely groundbreaking," said one of the people, all of whom were not authorised to discuss the confidential plans. "It could change a huge amount."
Comment: Without troops to operate the weapons - and which would likely need to be foreign mercenaries of some kind - it won't change the Kiev-junta's losing position; and, even with a flood of foreign fighters, all it really promises is a significant escalation, expansion, and prolongation of the conflict.
Fears over Russia's vast military ramp-up and its potential threat to Europe, combined with concerns over the longevity of US security guarantees to the continent, have prompted moves towards Europe's biggest rearmament since the cold war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday urged EU leaders to increase their military support. "Unfortunately, the use of artillery at the frontline by our soldiers is humiliating for Europe in the sense that Europe can provide more. And it is crucial to prove it now," he said.
EU member states agreed in February 2022 to finance weapons shipments to Ukraine, but only through a multilateral fund set up outside the EU budget that bypassed Article 41(2) of the bloc's governing treaties. Treaty change is seen as politically impossible.
That fund — the European Peace Facility — requires cumbersome negotiations between 27 capitals each time it needs to be replenished. The commission is keen to find a legal way to bring it inside the budget in order to make it more efficient and potentially bolster its size.
Comment: Apparently treaties that were designed to regulate the waging of wars of aggression are 'cumbersome'.
The legal debate turns on whether Article 41(2) only applies specifically to EU military operations. If so, proponents argue, it could permit Brussels to buy weapons for operations conducted by other entities, such as the Ukrainian armed forces, the people said.
The legal service of the Council of the EU, the body that represents member states, is bullish on the ability to work around the language of Article 41(2), the people said. But the commission's lawyers are more conservative.
Comment: This just goes to show how readily some eurocrats - including those working in the department for dedicated to law - are willing to subvert their own laws.
Maybe they could further abuse it to accelerate Israel's genocide in Gaza?
To resolve differences, the commission has proposed to member states that "a joint legal task force" examine the issue "to enhance the EU's defence readiness", according to a document seen by the Financial Times.
The legal work is at an early stage and could result in no changes, three of the people cautioned. Member states can take the commission to court if they believe it has broken the bloc's treaties.
The talks come as EU leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels on Thursday discussed using proceeds earned from immobilised Russian state assets to fund military support to Ukraine, and the potential to issue new joint debt to invest in European defence projects.
Under a proposal from the commission, the profits arising from Russia's frozen assets would be funnelled via the off-budget EPF. But the funds could be moved into the EU budget if lawyers are able to determine that using it to buy weapons for Ukraine is not in breach of the treaty.
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