Who guards Europe’s border? / Day

The external border of Latvia is also the external border of the European Union (EU) and NATO, therefore its strengthening is not only a national issue. This also means mutual cooperation between EU countries, as well as NATO’s involvement in its protection. “Since Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022, cooperation has increased. The EU and NATO are working together on military mobility to facilitate the deployment of additional military forces in the event of a crisis, which is particularly relevant in the Baltic region, as well as the NATO Secretary General regularly attending European Council meetings of EU leaders, ” explains Imants Lieģis, head of the Security Program of the Latvian Institute of Foreign Policy and senior researcher.

Recently, the EU has implemented a series of important measures to promote cooperation between member states in the field of defense. 2024 is the first year in which EU member states collectively spend more than 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence. Crucially, it is channeled into new technological solutions and infrastructure to improve EU member states’ military capabilities and preparedness. Latvia has set aside 3.17% of GDP for defense in 2024. In 2025, the defense budget will reach 3.45% of the current projected GDP.

The position of the Defense Commissioner plays a special role in these matters at the European level. The purpose of this position is to strengthen European defense capabilities, promote the development of the defense industry, as well as cooperate with EU member states and international partners on defense issues. With the creation of this position, the European Union strengthened its efforts to develop a common defense policy and cooperation to respond to global security challenges.

“It is very important for the EU to play an important, complementary role in the development of NATO’s capabilities, so it is very important if we look at the next commission, which will start work on November 1 of this year and will operate for the next five years, that key positions include representatives of the Baltic region This includes Valdis Dombrovskis as the Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, and the Commissioner for Defense will be the former Prime Minister of Lithuania, Kaja Kallas, as the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs is important to implement Europe’s determination to invest 500 billion euros directly in defense in the next decade. Of course, it is clear that defense will be one of the big priorities, and it is important that Latvia gets the most out of it,” comments Latvian Defense Minister Andris Sprūds on the current situation at the EU level.