EU leaders will meet on March 21-22 to discuss the security situation, including the EIB's role in defense preparedness. The letter comes as Ukraine struggles to acquire more ammunition and persuade its allies to provide more aid. As Bloomberg reported in March, the EIB is considering ways to expand its support for the defense industry.
“We need to explore various options that would allow the EIB to invest in defense-related activities beyond existing dual-use projects”, the letter continues. “This would mean discussing and re-evaluating the current definitions of dual-use projects and the list of excluded activities, as well as reconsidering its lending policy for the defense industry and other restrictive elements.” In addition to Germany and France, Finland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Sweden signed.
According to the Bloomberg agency, the EU's lending department is in talks with the Commission and stakeholders to invest in military companies that produce defense products. The leaders said in the letter that a new EIB policy could have a “signaling effect” that would encourage further private investment and make this type of lending more acceptable to financial markets and banks. “However, currently EIB financing for security and defense is limited to dual-use projects,” the letter said. “The EIB’s Strategic European Security Initiative and the recent EIF Defense Capital Fund are welcome initiatives, but they represent a very small part of the EIB’s current activities.”
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