The war in Ukraine has created huge demand for weapons, meaning smaller member states risk being at the back of the queue for supplies or facing hugely inflated costs. Common markets will increase the interoperability of European militaries because they will have similar technology and the proposal could be seen as a step towards the distant future prospect of an EU army. Plans for a 5,000-strong EU rapid reaction force are due to be implemented next year and there are already initiatives to pool defense research funding as the bloc deepens defense cooperation in response to the war in Ukraine. Mr Borrell and Thierry Breton, the French internal market commissioner, wrote to ministers and EU defense industry representatives ahead of the meeting. “Member states must immediately restore the readiness of their forces, address critical capability gaps and replenish depleted stocks,” they said in a letter obtained by The Telegraph. “Russia’s unprovoked and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine has instilled even greater urgency in our efforts,” the letter said. The European Commission and the EU’s foreign policy agency have set up a task force to coordinate “very short-term procurement”. While it does not stop negotiating on behalf of member states, it assigns Brussels a coordinating role to prevent member states from competing with each other and raising prices. The full common procurement program is aimed at the medium term and is called the European Defense Investment Programme. Once backed by the 27 EU member states, it will coincide with moves to accelerate “EU defense production capacity”.
