The EU Council decided to increase the financial ceiling of the European Peace Fund by 2 billion euros. This is stated in the message Council of the EU.
According to this decision, the financial ceiling of the Fund increases to 7,979 billion euros by 2027.
"The European Peace Fund has become an integral part of EU support aimed at strengthening peace and security around the world. Today's decision raises the financial ceiling of the European Peace Fund to more than 7,9 billion euros. Ensuring the financial sustainability of this instrument is crucial for our support not only to Ukraine, but also to our partners in other parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East as their needs continue to grow," said Josep Borrell, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy .
This decision implements the political agreement reached on 12 December 2022, when EU countries decided to increase the total financial ceiling of the EMF by €2 billion (in 2018 prices) in 2023 and provide for the possibility of further increases at a later stage.
The EU Council also decided to set the basic financial amount for the total cost of EU military crisis management training in 2023 at EUR 5 million and to introduce greater flexibility in the collection and use of financial contributions from member states and their use by the fund.
What is the European Peace Fund?
The European Peace Fund was established in March 2021 to finance all actions of the Common Foreign and Security Policy related to military and defense matters, with the aim of preventing conflicts, preserving peace and strengthening international security and stability. It allows the EU to finance measures aimed at strengthening the capacity of non-EU countries, as well as regional and international organizations in military and defense matters. The EMF is an extra-budgetary instrument and initially had a total financial limit of €5 billion in 2018 prices for the period 2021-2027, with annual limits from €420 million in 2021 to €1,132 billion in 2027.
Thanks to the fund, the EU supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine within the framework of seven consecutive support packages, as well as many other countries: Mozambique, Georgia, Moldova, Mali, Somalia, Niger, Jordan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon and Mauritania.
