France wants to limit Ukraine’s arms purchases outside the EU – media

France wants to limit the validity of the exceptions that allow Ukraine to buy weapons outside the European Union with the funds of a 90 billion euro loan. Paris insists that in the future this money should be directed primarily to European manufacturers.

Euronews writes about this.

In April, EU countries approved a Ukraine Support Loan of €90 billion to support Ukraine in 2026-2027. Of this amount, €30 billion was earmarked for economic support, and another €60 billion for military needs.

Under the terms of the program, the share of defense product components purchased outside the EU and the European Economic Area must not exceed 35% of its value.

At the same time, Ukraine may receive an exception if there is no necessary analogue in Europe or local manufacturers cannot produce the required quantity of weapons in the required time and at an acceptable price.

Kyiv has so far received two such exceptions. One concerns the purchase of Chinese components for drones, the second – American interceptor missiles for Patriot systems, which Ukraine needs for air defense.

The European Commission approved both requests, as European producers do not yet have sufficient capacity to meet Ukraine’s needs.

France, however, insists that such exceptions should only be temporary. Paris expects that Ukraine will spend more on European-made weapons in the future.

Euronews notes that France has one of the largest defense-industrial complexes in Europe. In particular, together with Italy, it produces the SAMP/T air defense system, which is considered the closest European analogue of the American Patriot.

At the same time, a number of European countries are advocating for Ukraine to have more freedom in choosing weapons suppliers.

In July, the defense ministers of Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Poland, Latvia, Finland, and Lithuania sent a corresponding letter to the head of European diplomacy, Kaia Kallas, and the European Commissioner for Defense, Andrius Kubilius.

They emphasized that it is important for Ukraine to quickly obtain the necessary weapons, in particular by using exceptions that allow the purchase of equipment and ammunition from third countries.