According to Macron, EU’s European Peace Facility fund could partially finance the Czech procurement plan.
"The Czech initiative is extremely useful; we support it and will participate," Bloomberg quotes Macron.
The plan aims to “find the munitions Ukraine needs from wherever they are available.”
At the same time, Macron insisted that the EU should focus its efforts on supporting the European defense industry rather than purchasing finished military equipment from outside the bloc. Previously, French officials indicated Paris was not keen on relying on non-EU sources to sustain arms deliveries to Kyiv.
Michael Roth, the head of the Bundestag's Foreign Affairs Committee, told NV in a recent interview that three countries—France, Greece, and Cyprus—were blocking the procurement of munitions for Ukraine outside the European Union.
Prague found hundreds of thousands of artillery munitions abroad that could be transferred to Ukraine if other countries help with funding, Czech President Petr Pavel said during the Munich Security Conference on Feb.17.