Ukraine desperately requests seven Patriot systems for its cities, however, the EU is unable to provide them.
This was stated by the head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell.
"I spoke with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba some days ago and he is desperately asking for seven Patriot batteries to protect his country. It should be inconceivable that we were not able to provide them, given that the Western armies have about 100 batteries of Patriot. And still, we are not able to provide the seven they are asking desperately for," emphasized Borrell.
Borrell emphasized the importance of discussing ammunition as it pertains to addressing Europe's industrial capacity to increase production. Following this, he raised the pivotal question: what type of institutional framework is necessary to achieve the desired level of security and defense ambitions? He expressed skepticism regarding the emergence of a European defense system through a comprehensive top-down supranational strategy, noting that historically, Europe has not been structured in such a manner.
"We have to face the two problems that we have. One is a problem of expenditure, of money, of resources, of finance. And then we have a problem of collective action: how do we manage, how do we organise our collective action? We have a problem of expenditure because we have neglected defence and security issues since the euro crisis," emphasized Borrell.