France is seeking to limit the duration of exceptions for Ukraine regarding arms procurement outside the EU.
EU / © Reuters
France wants to impose time limits on the exceptions that allow Ukraine to purchase weapons from outside the EU using funds from a €90 billion loan.
This is reported by Euronews.
The Essence of the Loan Program and Agreed Exceptions
In April, the EU approved a €90 billion loan for Ukraine for the years 2026-2027. Of this amount, €60 billion is allocated for defense, and €30 billion for the economy. According to the agreement’s terms, purchasing weapons outside the European Union is permitted for no more than 35% of the defense budget.
Kyiv can request an exception only if European alternatives are unavailable, insufficient in quantity, excessively expensive, or have overly long production times. Currently, the European Commission has approved two such waivers for Ukraine: for the purchase of Chinese components for drones and American interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems.
France’s Position and the Control Mechanism
France is striving to restrict the validity period of these exceptions to direct funding towards supporting the European defense industry. The country possesses a robust defense sector and produces the Franco-Italian SAMP/T complexes, which serve as a European alternative to the American Patriot systems.
Exceptions are not granted indefinitely: the Ukrainian government must provide detailed contracts specifying suppliers for each new payment. If, by that point, similar products become available within the EU at a comparable price and timeframe, the European Commission may revoke the exception. In cases of procurement from China, the European Commission conducts additional checks on companies to ensure they are not on EU sanction lists for cooperation with the Russian Federation.
Who in the EU Opposes Restrictions
Conversely, nine countries in Northern and Eastern Europe advocate for maximum flexibility for Ukraine. In July, the defense ministers of Germany, Poland, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania sent a letter to the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the European Commissioner for Defence, Thierry Breton.
“We continue to emphasize that the swift approval of lists of products is critically important, including through the pragmatic use of waivers for the procurement of materials produced by third countries,” the officials stated in their address.
EU Loan for Ukraine – Latest News
As a reminder, in December last year, the European Council approved a €90 billion loan for Ukraine, intended for the period 2026-2027. Subsequently, the Ukrainian side and the European Union finalized the agreement text.
On June 25th, the European Union transferred the first tranche of €3.2 billion from the two-year €90 billion loan package to Ukraine. This was announced by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk.
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