The European Commission has allocated €150 billion for the rearmament of Europe, and Ukraine has access to these funds, but formal access does not guarantee their automatic receipt – it is necessary to lobby for the interests of the Ukrainian defence-industrial complex.

This was stated by the Chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum, Prime Minister of Ukraine in 2014-2016, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, on the Ukrainian Radio programme ‘Ambassadors,’ responding to a question about his participation in a special advisory group to European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius at his personal invitation.

‘I went there to lobby for the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian defence-industrial complex. We are talking about €150 billion that the European Commission has allocated for the rearmament of Europe as a whole, and Ukraine has access to it,’ Yatsenyuk said.

At the same time, he warned that formal access does not guarantee automatic receipt of funds due to high competition. ‘You understand that everyone will be fighting for this access?’ emphasised the Chairman of the KSF.

He noted that Russian aggression catalysed the transformation of European defence policy. "Ukraine has truly awakened Europe. Russia's attack on Ukraine and Ukraine's defence of its sovereignty and independence have effectively forced Europe to completely rethink its domestic and foreign policies. Is Europe ready today to resist Russian aggression? No. Is Europe doing everything it can to start resisting Russian invasion? Yes," the former prime minister emphasised.

He mentioned the ‘White Paper’ prepared by European Commissioner Kubilius and described it as an important document that demonstrates the scale of the problems and the availability of resources to solve them.

"It is, in fact, an analysis of the European Union's readiness to defend itself – it clearly shows that Europe has the resources and a plan for how to do so. Starting with the fact that it was impossible to transport weapons and equipment by road and rail in Europe, or to provide logistics in general. And ending with the fact that there is no single mechanism for public procurement of defence goods in Europe," Yatsenyuk explained.

He also drew attention to internal competition between European countries in the defence sector.

‘Each country is pulling the blanket over itself because everyone wants to sell only their own products and buy only from themselves. They analysed a large segment of their problems and realised that the best experience for solving these problems is Ukraine,’ the former prime minister concluded.