Arms trafficking risk - supply of weapons to Ukraine
8.3.2023
Question for written answer E-000805/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Dominique Bilde (ID)
On 11 July 2022 an informal meeting of EU home affairs ministers was held in Prague, in particular on the ‘illegal trafficking of firearms originally sent to the Ukrainian army’[1].
In October 2022 the Council delivered the sixth tranche worth EUR 500 million for military assistance to Ukraine, with total support for Ukraine equalling EUR 3.1 billion[2].
However, this excess of international military aid to Ukraine is becoming a time bomb. Combined with a total absence of control by Western and Ukrainian authorities, it has provided an apparently inexhaustible supply of state-of-the art weaponry to black markets across the world[3].
In November 2022 the Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari, declared that ‘weapons being used for the war between Ukraine and Russia are beginning to filter to the Lake Chad Basin region’[4].
- 1.What action does the Commission intend to take against arms trafficking caused by the war in Ukraine?
- 2.How does it plan to cooperate with the African countries on this matter, particularly in the context of the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel?
Submitted: 8.3.2023
- [1] ‘The main case on their radar is the illegal trafficking of firearms originally sent to the Ukrainian army.’ https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/short_news/eu-steps-up-security-help-for-moldova-at-ministers-meeting-in-prague/
- [2] ‘In October 2022, the Council of the EU delivered the sixth tranche worth 500 million euros for military assistance to Ukraine, with total support for Ukraine equalling 3.1 billion euros’ https://www.globsec.org/what-we-do/publications/eus-assistance-ukraine-looking-ahead-2023.
- [3] ‘Weapons smuggling for Ukraine emerging as headache for Europe and Israel’, Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury, 19 July 2022, The Economic Times.
- [4] Weapons from Ukraine’s war now coming to Africa, 6 December 2022, by Newsroom.