EU Foreign Ministers Agree To Increase Budget Of European Peace Facility By $2.11Bln

The EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to increase the funding of the European Peace Facility by 2 billion euros ($2.11 billion), which funds among other things the military supplies to Ukraine, the Council of the European Union said in a statement.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th December, 2022) The EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday to increase the funding of the European Peace Facility by 2 billion Euros ($2.11 billion), which funds among other things the military supplies to Ukraine, the Council of the European Union said in a statement.

"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 Council said that this decision was made to further strengthen the EU's military support for Ukraine.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell specified that the EPF was key for improving the security of the EU and its partners.

"In less than two years, the European Peace Facility has proven its worth. It has completely changed the way we support our partners on defence. It makes the EU and its partners stronger," he said.

The EPF was created in March 2021 with the aim to improve conflict resolution measures and strengthen international security through the funding of non-EU countries' defense capabilities. Initially, it was designed with a financial ceiling of 5 billion euros (in 2018 prices) for the period of 2021-2027. In November, Borrell said that 2.6 billion euros of the EPF's budget had already been allocated to send military support to Ukraine. Apart from Ukraine, the EU used this fund to provide aid for Mozambique, Georgia, Moldova, Mali, Somalia, Niger, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon and Mauritania.