Edit: I meant to leave this empty to start, but to clarify now that there’s other discussion:
“Access to minerals” doesn’t necessarily mean “discounted” or “mineral rights”. It could be a deal consisting of:
- Military aid goes to EU defence industry supplies
- In exchange, EU gets first dibs at market rate contracts (with some tax-exempt on on the EU side for imports to make it more appealing to take advantage of on both sides) for metals/mineral extraction.
This could help spur Ukraine’s post-war economy, integration with EU markets, and benefit the EU defence industry. It would also demonstrate what a real and fair deal looks like.
Where would military equipment to rival the one from the US come from?
Edit: Did a quick search on the largest military manufactors and out of the top 10, 1 is English, 3 are Chinese and the remaining 6 are American, so none are European.
If the US decides that Europe can’t buy equipment they are in a good position to do so.
There are some relevant european defense contractors. Maybe not in the Top 10 worldwide, but we do have a capable defense industry here.