In current weeks, drones have violated Polish, Romanian, Danish and Norwegian airspace, with Europe casting blame on Russia in most of the instances. These incidents gave new momentum to a so-called drone wall — an initiative first pitched by frontline international locations final yr and backed by von der Leyen in her State of the Union deal with final month.
Earlier this week, nonetheless, German Protection Minister Boris Pistorius said there have been extra pressing priorities to sort out. “Drone protection, in fact, however not by a drone wall,” he advised an viewers on the Warsaw Safety Discussion board.
The drone wall debate additionally underscores how geography typically results in disagreements amongst European leaders concerning how greatest to guard the continent from exterior threats, together with Russia — and people divisions had been on present in Copenhagen as leaders entered the summit.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni warned about not forgetting Europe’s southern flank, a message echoed by her Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
“Any widespread European protection challenge regarding Europe can’t be restricted to the continent’s jap borders,” he advised reporters.
In the meantime, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda praised the challenge forward of the Copenhagen assembly, highlighting a transparent divide between frontline nations and international locations farther from the Russian and Ukrainian borders.
