For decades, Europe did not believe in the possibility of war on its continent, so its military industry was not ready for the Russian invasion and failed to provide the promised million of ammunition for Ukraine. This was stated by the EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
"We will just have to continue to stimulate and develop European industry. Indeed, this has shown that the transition to military production is not a natural instinct in Europe. In Europe, we have lived for decades with the firm belief that war on the European continent is no longer possible," she said.
In her opinion, Europe has coped "quite well" with the "initial shock of February 24, 2022".
The ambassador also reminded that the European Union had agreed to provide Ukraine with €50 billion in aid in exchange for a number of reforms.
"For all our lending over the past ten years, both in the form of macro-financial assistance and budget support, we have always set conditions," she said.
According to Mathernova, a precondition for supporting Ukraine under this mechanism will be that Ukraine continues to support and respect democratic institutions.
"But this was a precondition for all our macro-financial assistance before. The wording was taken from previous instruments," the ambassador added.
The diplomat stated that the conditions have not changed in ten years: "They are called preliminary conditions. There are specific conditions for each tranche, etc. But the precondition is that Ukraine is a democratic pluralistic country."
Assessing the level of democracy in Ukraine, Mathernova said: "I think that in a country that is at war, under martial law, there are obviously obstacles to the full arsenal of rights. But Ukraine is a country at war."
