The European Council and the European Parliament have reached a preliminary agreement on new rules aimed at encouraging investment in the EU’s defense industry within the framework of the Union’s current budget. One of the decisions under this plan is the inclusion of Ukraine in the European Defence Fund.
This was reported on the website of the Council of the European Union.
According to European officials, this step underscores the EU’s continued commitment to Ukraine’s security and resilience, as well as the gradual integration of Kyiv into the common European defense industrial base.
“The agreement reached today on incentivising defence-related investments in the current EU budget is an important milestone in implementing the ReArm Europe plan and in the EU’s progress towards increasing our defence readiness by 2030. We need to maximise our investments in defence and dual-use technologies to prepare for the future – together in Europe and with Ukraine,” said Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen.
The document retains the main provisions of the European Commission’s proposal and amends five EU programs to make defense investments more coordinated. These include:
- the Digital Europe Programme
- the European Defence Fund
- the Connecting Europe Facility
- the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), and
- Horizon Europe
"Today’s agreement sends a strong message: Europe is determined to invest in its security and remove all hurdles in this direction. By opening key EU-programmes to defence-related investments, we are enhancing our efforts in strengthening Europe’s Defence Industrial and Technological Base. It is a necessary step towards a stronger, more resilient, and more capable Europe that is able to defend itself by 2030," said Marie Bjerre, Minister for European Affairs of Denmark
As a reminder, in November 2025 Ukraine obtained Enhanced Partnership status with the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) — a coalition that conducts humanitarian missions and high-intensity combat operations.
