The EU Council has adopted measures to encourage and simplify investments in the EU defense sector, including opportunities for Ukrainian entities.
“Today the Council formally adopted the regulation incentivising defence-related investments in the EU budget to implement the ReArm Europe Plan. The regulation brings legal adjustments aimed at supporting faster, more flexible and coordinated defence-related investments across the EU.,” the EU Council press service reported.
The Council aims to strengthen Europe’s defense-industrial and technological base (EDTIB) amid growing geopolitical challenges.
The adopted regulation amends five key EU programs – the Digital Europe Programme, the European Defence Fund, the Connecting Europe Facility, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP), and Horizon Europe – to ensure more effective use of these programs in support of defense-related activities.
“Among other things, the new rules allow for Ukraine to be associated to the European Defence Fund, thereby creating new opportunities for Ukrainian entities to join in EU collaborative defence research and development activities in the future. This step underscores the EU’s enduring commitment to Ukraine’s security, resilience, and gradual integration into the European defence and technological industrial base,” the statement reads.
The new rules will take effect the day after their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
