EU sends road construction funds to £1.7bn munitions plan for Ukraine

Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the Internal Market, told critics of the plan: 'We can't be naive' Photo: Olivier Mattis/Shutterstock.

Brussels is set to use funds normally reserved for building roads and airports in the poorer EU countries to boost arms production across the bloc.

The EU took an unprecedented step on Wednesday. about the end of a long-standing ban on the use of resources from its central budget to provide the military industry with money industry.

It is part of a €2bn (£1.76bn) EU arms program to produce one million 155mms. artillery shells to resupply Ukraine and replenish national stockpiles depleted by last year's Russian invasion.

Under a scheme dubbed 'As Soon As Possible', the European Commission will allocate €500m (£440m) in aid in increasing production capacity at the factories for the production of ammunition and missiles in the EU.

1602 U.S. production of 155mm shells

Member states will then be allowed to replenish this money from so-called EU cohesion funds, programs that are used to develop the poorer parts of the bloc and link them to their richer neighbors.

Billions of euros have been spent in the past to develop airports in Greece, Italy, Spain, Poland and Estonia, and to build roads to bridge the poverty gap.

Sources said. the move could be highly controversial among member states, who believe that EU law prohibits funding for defense purposes.

The EU's governing treaty prohibits «expenditures related to operations with military or defense implications».

Ireland, Austria and Malta are neutral states, while Hungary has so far refused to provide weapons to Ukraine due to close ties with Russia.

Thierry Breton, the European commissioner responsible for increasing the production of arms, said at a press conference: fully compatible with the treaty.

“Yes, investing in our defense will allow us to protect our democracy. And that's what we have to say to our fellow citizens.”

A senior EU figure, an ally of Emmanuel Macron, who shares the French president's opposition to the British and American firms involved in the scheme, told governments. could spend on arms factories if the funding would promote «skills and employment» in poor regions.

«We cannot be naive,» Breton warned critics.

«We must do so that we are sure that we are doing our best to continue to defend ourselves together.”

Commission officials said plans still need to be refined before countries know how much can be used to increase weapons production.

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The European Parliament must also vote on proposals before they become a reality.