Cyprus signs fast-track ammunitions deal

Cyprus joined EU member states as a signatory to a project led by the European Defence Agency for the collaborative procurement of ammunition.

The collaborative procurement of ammunition includes the possibility of sending it to Ukraine, but Cyprus will not be sending munitions to the country.

Defence Minister Michalis Giorgallas participated in the signing ceremony on Monday, calling it “a significant milestone for European defence and EU armaments cooperation”.

The European Defence Agency said the project arrangement is for two separate fast-track procedures of two and seven years, respectively, for collaborative procurement of multiple types of ammunition.

Some 17 EU states of the EU (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden), as well as Norway, have signed.

The EDA said the project was agreed to “in full respect of sovereign national decisions and without prejudice to the specific character of the security and defence policy of any EU Member States” and that it “may be used to replenish Member States’ national stockpiles and/or aid Ukraine”.

Giorgallas said during the meeting of the EU’s Defence and Foreign Affairs Ministers, Cyprus reiterated its support for “the rapid implementation of the EU Compass Strategy, which aims to develop a common policy for external defence and security to protect the Member States of the Union”.