European Parliament blocks financing for European Council amidst demand for additional Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine

The European Parliament rejected the proposal to fund the European Council due to the request for extra Patriot air defense systems to be provided to Ukraine.

MEP, former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, and Lithuanian MP Andrius Kubilius reported this on X.

During a European Parliament speech, a member of the Renew party suggested removing the decision to adopt the budget for the EU Council until European countries can locate more Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine.

"You all see that over the past 20 days, the number of Russian attacks on the largest cities of Ukraine has increased rapidly – hospitals, power plants, and residential buildings have been hit. It seems scandalous to me that the European Council while saying that it is opening the door for Ukraine, at the same time is not even able in such urgency to resolve the issue and send a certain number of anti-missile systems to Ukraine," Verhofstadt said in his speech published on the X network.

Verhofstadt added that EU countries have about a hundred Patriot systems, and Ukraine needs seven such installations.

515 parliamentarians supported the call of the European deputy; 62 were "against."

"Parliament refuses to implement the Council's budget until the European Council decides to support Ukraine with additional Patriot anti-missile systems," Verhofstadt wrote on social media.

He proposed to postpone consideration of the issue of financing Council institutions to the next meeting in Strasbourg.

"The European Parliament has suspended the decision on financing the EU Council for failing to deliver Patriot systems to Ukraine," Lithuanian MP Andrius Kubilius wrote.

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It should be noted that on April 10, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba and EU High Representative Josep Borrell discussed the EU's efforts to accelerate military support to Ukraine, in particular the supply of air defense systems and ammunition, during a telephone conversation.

For reference:

As reported, the systems of the Patriot anti-aircraft missile complex successfully repel ballistic missiles of the Russian Federation, which could cause massive losses and destruction.

It is noteworthy that Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain will jointly purchase about 1,000 missiles for the Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems.

In addition, President Zelensky recently stressed that Ukraine needs 25 Patriot air defense systems or their analogs to completely cover the sky over its territory.

It is worth adding that on April 4 in Brussels, during the meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council at the headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance, Germany initiated the search for available Patriot air defense systems for Ukraine's armed forces.