The European Union will invest $45 million in the creation of a special defense fund

The European Union is investing $45 million in a special European defense fund, marking the first time the bloc has sought to improve its military capabilities. This was reported by Bloomberg on May 22.

"The European Investment Fund, which provides access to financing for small and medium—sized businesses, will contribute to the fund raised by Keen Venture Partners," the article says.

According to Alexander Ribbink, a partner at Keen Capital Ventures, the European defense technology industry is dominated by large companies. In this regard, investing in "technology entrepreneurs is an important step towards providing Europe with a much more mature and developed defense ecosystem."

On the eve of the annual EU budget conference, the head of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said that from a political point of view, each EU country does not need to strengthen its own army, it is better to strengthen the common defense capability.

Against this background, the head of the European Council called for acting in accordance with the exercises of the European Defense Agency, which largely coincide with the NATO exercises.

The European Commission previously announced its intention to raise 800 billion euros for the needs of the military sector, of which 150 billion euros it intends to raise from EU funds and in the form of pan-European loans, and 650 billion euros should be found by EU countries through additional taxes, cuts in social spending or government loans. This decision was made as part of the European Union's Accelerated Militarization Plan (ReArm EU) announced in March.

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The Reuters news agency, citing an unnamed European diplomat, reported on May 19 that the countries of the European Union (EU) had agreed to create the European Security Action Fund (SAFE), aimed at strengthening the defense of territories, for €150 billion. It is specified that the initiative was proposed by the European Commission (EC).