European Union leaders will talk about plans for a “drone wall” to protect the continent at a summit on Wednesday in Copenhagen. This discussion comes just days after unidentified unmanned aircraft forced Danish airports to close temporarily. The summit will also be the first chance for leaders of the EU’s 27 countries to discuss using Russian assets frozen in Europe to provide a loan of 140 billion euros ($164.37 billion) to Ukraine.
Troops and anti-drone systems were committed by France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Britain, Finland, and Ukraine to assist Denmark in protecting the leaders who have many alleging Russia with a brazen violation of European airspace through the recent incursions of drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia.
Denmark has stopped short of making a direct accusation about the culprits during the airspace violations last week that disrupted air traffic at six airports, even as Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen opined that it could be Moscow.
Russia has denied any responsibility in relation to the drones over Denmark; it disputed that its fighter jets entered Estonian airspace; and finally, it has said it never intended to send drones on the Polish border.
Yet these incidents have reinvigorated calls by European leaders to fortify continental defences and bolster support for Ukraine in its resistance against Russian invasion, with US President Donald Trump entering the chorus asking that the EU shoulder much more of the burden on both counts.
European leaders have pledged to increase their pressure on Moscow by introducing a 19th package of EU sanctions that would eliminate Russian liquefied natural gas imports by 2027.
The European Commission introduced last week an idea to utilize sanctioned Russian money to establish a Reparation Loan which would support Kyiv’s military operations when American assistance starts to decline.
During her Tuesday address von der Leyen stated that decisive steps from our side now have the potential to shift the direction of this conflict.
According to the Commission’s plan, if Russia reimbursed Ukraine for the war, Kyiv would repay the loan. However, European officials claim the plan presents difficult, as-yet-unanswered legal and technical issues.
Friedrich Merz, the chancellor of Germany, expressed support last week for the idea of lending Ukraine the frozen money.
However, a strong warning was issued by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, whose nation owns the majority of the assets in the Euroclear securities depository.
He said last week that “countries may decide to withdraw their reserves from the euro zone if they see that central bank money can disappear if European politicians see fit,” according to Belgian news agency Belga.
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