The Prime Ministers of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Poland Donald Tusk appealed to the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen with a request to lead the initiative to create a joint air defense shield, which would be financed by the EU.
As European Truth writes, this was reported by Bloomberg with reference to a source who has read the corresponding letter of the heads of government of both countries.
Von der Leyen confirmed this proposal from the prime ministers of both countries in X ( Twitter), when she again called for joint defense projects.
“We need less fragmentation and joint projects. For example, the air defense shield proposed by Prime Ministers Mitsotakis and Tusk”, – she emphasized.
According to the source, Mitsotakis and Tusk asked to discuss this issue at the next EU summit at the end of June, and the letter about it was sent to von der Leyen on Thursday.
The prime ministers propose to create a comprehensive air defense system that would be able protect the EU's common airspace from threats such as aircraft, missiles and drones, the letter cited by the agency says.
As Mitsotakis and Tusk add, Bloomberg notes, the development and financing of a large joint European defense project at the European level will give a clear signal that Europe is united and determined to act in the interests of self-defense.
According to publication, the prime ministers indicate that the European air defense shield will also have a significant multiplier effect, because it will contribute to the modernization of the European defense and security industry, as well as a significantly higher level of cooperation and joint projects.
Misotakis raised the idea of a specific European defense initiative during a meeting with Tusk in Poland in April, the spokesman of the Greek government told the agency, who also confirmed the content of the letter.
Earlier, Tusk announced an agreement with the European Investment Bank, according to which Poland will be able to attract up to 300 million euros for the satellite component to protect the sky.
Before that, Polish President Andrzej Duda criticized the idea of Poland participating in the European air defense program “Sky Shield”, calling it a “German business project”.
Tusk on this answered that it does not matter to him “who has what kind of business in matters of arms or defense”, but it is important that Poland is safer.