Thursday

30th Mar 2023

Borrell wants 'powerful training' mission for Ukraine army

Listen to article

The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is seeking a "powerful training and organisation mission" to help the Ukrainian army.

The proposal announced Monday (22 August) in Madrid is set to discussed among EU defence ministers in Prague next week.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"I don't quite understand why we send training missions to the Mozambican army and not to the Ukrainian army," said Borrell.

He said the EU already has 17 such missions around the world and in places like Chad, Niger and until recently, Mali.

Borrell said any such training mission would not take place in Ukrainian territory, but rather in neighbouring countries.

Ukrainian soldiers are, for instance, already being trained in the Czech Republic, France, Poland and the United Kingdom.

Denmark had also announced plans earlier this month to help train Ukrainian soldiers in the UK.

But Borrell said the EU-led mission was needed because Europe is facing "a large-scale war" involving hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

"Therefore, any mission has to be equal to the conflict. This is not a 'little war', as someone has said," he said.

Member states will still have to approve the idea.

A similar EU proposal was floated last year to train Ukrainian officers in light of the tensions with Russia and its military buildup along the borders with Ukraine, according to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

That proposal was drafted by the EU defence ministers, reported the paper at the time.

The EU has so far contributed some €2.5bn for Ukraine's military needs through its so-called European Peace Facility.

The facility was set up as an off-budget item with a €5.7bn ceiling.

It was also created because EU rules prevent countries from using its seven-year budget for military operations.

EU plans to jointly invest in defence capabilities

EU countries need to refill stockpiles after several member states supplied weapons to Ukraine in its fight with Russia, and to phase out existing Soviet-era weapons systems, and reinforce air defence.

'Symbolic' Putin indictment gets some EU backing

Several EU foreign ministers welcomed the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian president Vladimir Putin, but it is unlikely to influence negotiations about a special tribunal on the crime of agression.

Latest News

  1. Firms will have to reveal and close gender pay-gap
  2. Why do 83% of Albanians want to leave Albania?
  3. Police violence in rural French water demos sparks protests
  4. Work insecurity: the high cost of ultra-fast grocery deliveries
  5. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  6. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  7. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  8. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us