Ukrainian army from the 43rd Heavy Artillery Brigade fire the German howitzer Panzerhaubitze 2000, near Bakhmut, in the Donetsk Region, on February 5, 2023 (Reuters)

Belgian military expert and ex-NATO officer Pierre Henrot warned that the European Union's plans to achieve a level of military production enough to supply the bloc's member states' stocks and Ukraine will cost billions of euros in taxpayer money.

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted a draft bill for EU member states to jointly fund the production of munitions and missiles, both for their own use and deliveries to Ukraine.

Lawmakers will need to agree to the bill with the European Council, after which it will be fast-tracked into law.

"Ultimately, the European taxpayers will have to foot the bill," Henrot told Sputnik.

According to the expert, European countries lack production capacities, as well as human resources to speed up ammunition manufacturing in the short term.

He added that many of these countries have depleted their stocks by supplying Ukraine over the past 15 months, but they continue to commit and promise more.

"War economy means nothing today. In 1940, women were massively made to work in arms factories, by all belligerents: the whole nation was under arms. Today, who are we going to put to work? The unemployed? The Illegal immigrants? Adding production lines (which will only be used for a while) would cost billions of euros, and industrialists relent," Henrot pointed out.

Decision-making in the European Union rests with the European Council, an organ requiring unanimous consensus of member states. Recalling Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's prior vetoing of Council decisions, Henrot considered that "unanimity in Europe is so difficult to reach."

"Considering the time it takes for a decision to be applied and to add a production line in a factory, that will take a very long time. Too long for being significant in the Ukraine conflict," the former NATO officer said.