The Countries for Collective Purchase of Ammunition are Now 24 - Bulgaria is Not Among Them

The number of countries participating in the European Defense Agency (EDA) coordinated munitions collective purchase project announced a week ago has reached 24.

Among them are 23 countries from the European Union and Norway. Bulgaria does not participate.

At the end of last week, five more countries joined the original 18 countries:

• Italy
• Spain
• Lithuania
• Hungary
• Poland

The inclusion of Italy and Spain is significant as they are among the top ten arms producers in the world. Also important is the participation of Poland, which is sharply increasing the production and purchase of ammunition and armaments both for its own army and to help Ukraine.

Denmark became a member of the EDA on 23 March and can now participate in all meetings, discussions, programs and orders. It is not currently part of the munitions program. Also outside the project are Slovenia, Latvia and Ireland, the latter of which is constitutionally militarily independent and has a more specific defense policy.

The EDA project is open to all EU countries.

Norway got involved right away, because since 2006 there is a so-called Administrative agreement with the agency and thus participates in its projects and programs. The remaining countries with such status are Switzerland (since 2012), Serbia (2013) and Ukraine (2015).

It is still being discussed whether and how to place orders with third countries - for example, with South Korea, which can provide the now highly sought after NATO-standard 155 mm artillery shells.

There is also another scheme for accelerated collective procurement of ammunition - combining at least three EU countries, usually one of them plays a leading role. It looks set...