The EPP’s axis gets strengthened two weeks before the European elections to convince the electorate of the 27 member countries of the need for a strengthening of European defense. From Athens and Warsaw to Brussels, the push is now for a European air defense shield, proposed by the prime ministers of Greece and Poland – Kyriakos Mītsotakīs and Donald Tusk, respectively – and enthusiastically welcomed by the current President of the European Commission and Spitzenkandidatin (joint candidate) of the European People’s Party (EPP), Ursula von der Leyen, a stunt during the last election debate before the June 6-9 vote. “It’s a project to which all Europeans could say ‘yes, let’s take our money, let’s invest it together, and it will protect all of Europe,'” von der Leyen said during the panel on security and defense organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) at the EU Parliament yesterday (May 23).
The Commission’s number one, the candidate of the European People’s Party to succeed herself at the helm of the EU executive, mentioned the air defense shield, speaking of the fact that “we need to improve our defense industry, we need to make sure that fragmentation in the European Union ends, and we need European common interest projects,” including “for example, an air defense shield for all of Europe, as proposed by Mītsotakīs and Tusk.” The reference to European common interest projects fits within the same von der Leyen cabinet proposal that arrived in early March on the first EU common defense strategy. More specifically in the new legal framework—the European Armament Program Structure (SEAP)—that will be made available by the European Defense Industrial Program (EDIP) to increase member states’ cooperation on equipment with potential financial support from the Union.
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has shaken our continent’s security and defense architecture to its core,” and “recent tragic events in the Middle East have further reminded us of how volatile our neighbourhood is,” warn Mītsotakīs and Tusk in the letter sent just yesterday to President von der Leyen: “Geopolitical rivalries are rife, and the fundamental principles of international law are being challenged by a worryingly growing number of revisionist actors around the world.” This is why “the EU and its member states must do more and better on security and defense because the current fragmented landscape is simply not up to today’s needs and requirements.” In addition to a “swift and concrete follow-up” in the Council to the Commission’s proposals, the EU executive’s “forthcoming” report on “financing options for our ambitious projects” in the field of security and defense is expected.
But there is more; it is precisely the heart of the letter addressed to von der Leyen. “Europe will be safe as long as the skies above it are safe, which is why the EU needs a new ‘flagship’programme,” intending that European air defense shield which is also looked upon with interest by the outgoing Commission president: “A comprehensive air defense system to protect our EU common airspace from all incoming threats, including aircraft, missiles, drones and more.” In the view of the two premiers belonging to the European political family of the EPP, this would be a “highly capable” tool and a “credible deterrent against all possible aggressors,” should diplomatic deterrence fail. The European air defense shield should be “a program that addresses this major vulnerability in our security” and that “incentivises European companies in the field to develop cutting-edge technologies and become world leaders in their fields,” acting on the one hand as a “facilitating catalyst for further upgrading” industry and demonstrating on the other hand that “the EU is a global power whose economic strength is enhanced by military power.”
