EU needs air defence shield, says Tusk

2024-05-23 14:02 update: 2024-05-30, 14:55
Photo PAP/Piotr Nowak
Photo PAP/Piotr Nowak
Donald Tusk, Poland's prime minister, and Kyriakos Mitsotakis, his Greek counterpart in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, have called for the creation of a common air defence shield.

Tusk and Mitsotakis claimed, in a letter accessed by PAP on Thursday, that Europe would be safe as long as its skies are safe. 

For this reason, they wrote, the EU needs a new 'flagship programme' consisting of a complex air defence system to protect it from aircraft, missiles and drones. 

According to both leaders, the shield could enhance European deterrence capability and be 'a catalyst' for modernisation in the defence industry.

Von der Leyen raised the topic of the air defence shield twice this week during debates before the upcoming EU elections. The incumbent president, running for re-election, belongs to, as do Tusk and Mitsotakis, the European People's Party, which according to the polls, will likely win the vote and appoint the new president. (PAP)
aj/jch

All materials (especially agency messages, photographs, graphics and film material) placed on this Portal are protected under the Law on copyright and related rights of February 4, 1994 and the Law on the protection of databanks of July 27, 2001. The said materials may be used only under appropriate license agreements. Any usage of said materials by Portal users without a valid license agreement is forbidden with the exclusion of legally allowed exceptions (especially permitted personal usage).

Recent news