Spanish
The Prime Minister of Latvia, Evika Silina, advocated this Wednesday for accelerating the development of the "drone wall" that the European Union (EU) aims to create to protect itself from incursions by such aircraft from Russia, and stated that this measure could be ready "within a year and a half."
The leader of the Baltic country spoke out upon her arrival at the informal EU summit being held today in Copenhagen, a meeting at which how to reinforce European defense in the face of the growing threats that the Twenty-Seven face on their eastern flank will be addressed.
"It's a very timely meeting, because the Russians keep making incursions with their drones... It's something very unusual and we're going to see what we can do together with NATO," said Silina.
The Latvian Prime Minister recalled that the Baltic countries have experienced frequent incidents with drones of Russian origin following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and noted that this is a security issue "that affects all of Europe", as shown by the incursions that Denmark has also recently suffered.
Latvia "is actively collaborating" with Ukraine in the detection of drones and in the protection of civilian infrastructure, and "is open to using these capabilities and working with other member countries".
Silina stated that the three years or five years considered from Brussels to develop the so-called "drone wall" are not needed, but rather that "it is possible to do it in much less time" if there is a will among the member states.
"Drone technology is something that is developing very rapidly, I think a year and a half is feasible, working in cooperation with universities and startups. We need coordination at regional and European level," he said.
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The "drone wall" is one of the concrete measures highlighted within the guidelines that the Commission will present today at the Copenhagen summit, based on its white paper on Defense presented last March with the goal of reinforcing EU security by 2030.
This defensive system would be developed within the European framework or in coalitions of interested countries, so that it would be interoperable with NATO but belonging to the EU, as explained by diplomatic sources.
