The European Commission approved funding for five cross-border projects to strengthen defense.

The European Commission has approved funding for five cross-border projects to support more coordinated and effective defense procurement among EU member states.

Implemented under the European Defense Industrial Reinforcement Instrument through joint procurement (EDIRPA), each of the five selected projects will receive 60 million euros, totaling 300 million euros in funding, reports FREEДом correspondent in Europe.

'The five selected projects represent a total procurement value exceeding 11 billion euros and illustrate the high effectiveness of EU funding. EDIRPA's investment of 300 million euros has driven more than 36 times that amount in commitments, demonstrating the program's effectiveness in attracting substantial defense investments across the EU,' stated the EC report.

The five selected EDIRPA projects will now enter the phase of preparing grant agreements, which includes detailed coordination between the Commission and the consortia of member state authorities.

The selected EDIRPA projects involve 20 member states, some of which will participate in joint defense procurement projects for the first Time. On average, six member states participate in each project - double the minimum legal requirement of three member states, demonstrating interest in a more unified European approach to defense procurement.

The majority of selected projects also include the procurement of defense products intended for Ukraine, including air defense and missile defense systems and ammunition.

'The five selected projects relate to air and missile defense, modern armored vehicles, and ammunition. So these are three areas where we have five selected projects,' said Johanna Berneisel, representative of the European Commission for Internal Market, Defense Industry, and Space.