The European Union will not co-finance the Eastern Shield? Germany and France opposed, Tusk outraged

On Thursday, June 27, Poland, together with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, presented the assumptions of the East Shield at the EU summit and demanded funding from the European budget. After the summit, Donald Tusk declared that Poland had achieved what it expected in terms of defense projects and “no one can doubt that Europe will co-finance them.”

Shield East. Media: There is no consent for EU financing yet

Meanwhile, he informs that “there is no EU consent yet regarding EU financing of the East Shield projects supported by Poland, i.e. strengthening the eastern border or the iron dome over the Polish sky.” This information was provided to the station by French defense expert Nicolas Gros-Verheyde.

As we read, the provision was changed, weakening the wording regarding the issue of financing. The decision was to be made at the request of Germany and France. “Tusk was furious,” the radio station reported. “The protests of the Polish Prime Minister, supported by other leaders from Greece, Italy, Denmark and the Baltic countries, did not help here. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not agree to any financing of defense through additional national contributions or EU loans. Paris, on the other hand, despite supporting the development of EU defense, does not want to give up its national prerogatives to Brussels too much,” reports RMF FM. As it was noted, the matter of financing possibilities has been postponed for “many months.”

“Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” also reports that Scholz and Macron’s opposition was met with indignation by, among others, Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas and Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Fredriksen. “Under their pressure, there was only one change to the final document, although Germany demanded 17 amendments. However, the change concerned the central provision. The fragment regarding joint support for defense initiatives was deleted” – .

Tusk: Every day we experience aggressive behavior on our borders

Poland and the Baltic countries presented the East Shield as an EU initiative and one of the most urgent projects to be implemented, which requires funding from the European budget. As EU diplomats reported, at the March summit, European leaders initially started a discussion on defense investments, but doubts arose and questions were asked about what exactly the money would be spent on. As for Poland, it has calculations for its section of 700 kilometers. Strengthening defense along the border with Russia and Belarus will cost EUR 2.5 billion.

Donald Tusk stressed in Brussels that Poland wants to defend its borders against possible Russian or Belarusian aggression. Asked by foreign journalists about the initiative of Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia to build the East Shield, he explained that it is about repelling a real threat from the East.

– Every day, not only in Poland, we experience these aggressive behaviors on our borders. I am talking not only about a clear military threat, as we have a full-scale war in Ukraine, but also about provocations on the borders from Belarus and Russia, and we also have a growing problem with the tactics of illegal immigration armed by these countries – said the head of government.

Tusk added that the threat is real not only for Poland and the Baltic countries. He emphasized the role of a common European defense policy. – This is the reason why I decided to propose the initiative of an air defense shield together with the Prime Minister of Greece, and secondly, a defense line in the Baltic countries and Poland, the so-called East Shield – he emphasized. The EU air defense system, the creation of which was proposed by Poland and Greece, is modeled on the Israeli Iron Dome. Poland believes that both this initiative and the East Shield, which strengthens defense along the border with Russia and Belarus, should be implemented in coordination with NATO, a key alliance guaranteeing collective defense.