President of the European Council Charles Michel has mooted the idea of mutualised EU defence bonds to help build a bigger industrial base for the sector.

Speaking at the European Defence Agency's Annual Conference. Michel suggested that such bonds could become a new asset class.

In the same speech, Michel said that EU states would put EUR60 billion into investments in defence and said EUR600 billion was possible over the next ten years. He also reiterated the EU's pledge to produce a million artillery rounds for Ukraine, although conceded that this would be slightly later than the original deadline of March 2024