COLOGNE, Germany — The European Union is considering setting up its own air defense shield after bloc leaders threw their support behind a Greek-Polish initiative to that effect this week.
The two countries’ prime minsters, Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Donald Tusk, respectively, pitched the idea to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a letter earlier this month.
After von der Leyen, who is eyeing a second term following elections in early June, swiftly endorsed the idea, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, also signaled support.
“I welcome that member states say that to defend our airspace, why should we look at that in a fragmented manner?” Borrell said ahead of a May 28 meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
Borrell told reporters the idea raises plenty of questions. “But the devil is in the details,” he said. “Where will these air defenses be put? At the border? Which border? With which capacities? With which funding?”
www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2024/05/31/european-union-weighs-creation-of-air-defense-shield/