De Fransen beschuldigen de Polen van het zeggen dat de Fransen dwarsliggen met hun eis dat de Britten en Amerikanen buitengesloten moeten worden van de bestelling van artilleriegranaten voor Oekraïne.
France and Poland spar as EU plan to buy Ukraine ammo idles in legal limbo
France wants to keep the contracts within the EU, a push that has drawn out negotiations.
France and Poland clashed on Wednesday as ambassadors failed to settle a dispute over who should get the EU’s joint contracts to buy Ukraine ammunition — just local firms, or also competitors elsewhere — according to three diplomats familiar with the situation.
EU ambassadors were trying to unblock an impasse over how to enact a plan to jointly purchase ammunition for Ukraine in its fight against Russia. The idea is that EU countries will band together and draw money from a communal pot to help deliver Kyiv up to 1 million shells in the next 12 months.
While EU leaders have approved the scheme — and even earmarked €2 billion to fund it — countries have since run into disagreements over how to spend the €1 billion set aside for joint contracts.
The main point of contention: How much to restrict the money to EU manufacturers, and whether to include companies in places like the U.S. and U.K. France has been leading a charge to keep the money within the bloc, irking some of its EU compatriots.
The frustration boiled over during Wednesday’s gathering. The French EU ambassador accused his Polish counterpart of blaming Paris in the press for impeding a final deal, according to the three diplomats. The French official, the diplomats added, stressed that Paris is simply being pragmatic and noted that EU countries have already agreed to spend the other €1 billion on reimbursements for ammunition donations to Ukraine.
The Polish official shot back, saying France was only making the current negotiations harder.
https://www.politico.eu/a...y-ukraine-ammunition-war/Eventually, the Swedes stepped in, trying to find a compromise. The country controls the rotating EU presidency, giving it the mandate to hash out disagreements at the Council of the EU. Swedish officials offered an updated text, seen by POLITICO, that tried to nod to both sides.
The compromise document limited the upcoming contracts to “economic operators established in the Union and Norway,” but it included a line that the directive should not set a precedent.
Some diplomats felt the new text was moving too much in the French direction, while others grumbled it was opening new questions about which companies or subcontractors should be involved.