It is time for Europe to wake up to the threat posed by various authoritarian states and their non-state allies, such as the Yemeni twenty-somethings, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said on Wednesday at the European Defense and Security Council at its summit.
Photo: AFP
Europe’s freedom is at stake
According to the president of the commission, the stakes for Europe are not small, as it is our freedom and prosperity, so work on the continent’s future security architecture must be started, with the necessary political determination and speed. Von der Leyen also said that
member states will always be responsible for their own teams, but this does not mean that there is no place for European competences.
The defense of Europe is the business of the whole of Europe, in which the EU institutions and the member states must cooperate closely. As he said, in recent years it has been possible to show how this can work in practice and drew attention to the fact that the nations’ defense budgets have increased by 20 percent since 2022.
According to von der Leyen, it is therefore time to take the next step in the direction of European defense and security, if only because war is not unthinkable today, and we must prepare for it.
We need to find a way to use the economic power of the EU for defense investments
said von der Leyen.
Also on Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said that the next meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Council with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will begin on Friday, the main topic of which will be air defense.
Europe’s defence is a task for all of Europe.
Europe is responding to increasing threats with practical steps.
We’re spending more developing European projects & capacities.
And investing in our high-end defence capabilities.
It’s time to step up ↓ https://t.co/2yrIJWUcgO
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) April 17, 2024
