BRUSSELS, December 12. /TASS/. The EU Council has approved a €2 billion increase in the funding ceiling for the European Peace Facility, which pays for arms supplies to Kiev, for 2023, according to a statement issued by the EU Council on Monday.
"The Council today reached a political agreement with a view to ensuring the financial sustainability of the European Peace Facility (EPF). The Council decided in particular to increase the overall financial ceiling by €2 billion (in 2018 prices) in 2023, with the possibility of a further increase at a later stage," the statement said. The document notes that the decision will be finally approved in early 2023.
The European Peace Facility was established in 2020 with a budget of €5 billion (approximately €5.7 billion now), with the funds to be distributed over the period from 2021 to 2027. The fund was envisaged as a structure to provide military supplies to governments in conflict zones, especially in Africa and the Middle East, where the EU supported or intended to support its ‘peacekeeping missions’.
However, with the start of Russia’s special military operation, the fund was reoriented toward arms supplies to Ukraine. To date, supplies worth about 3.5 billion euros have been paid for from it. Thus, the increase of the allocation ceiling by 2 billion euros in 2023 is so far only a reallocation for 2023 of the money intended for this fund until 2027. Nevertheless, this money will not be enough to maintain the 2022 supply, because when the decision is formalized in 2023, there will be less than €2.5 billion left in the European Peace Facility for 2023. This is why there is a need to envisage a new increase in the funding ceiling for this program, which would already mean an infusion of new money.