26/02/2025 (Agence Europe) – On Tuesday 25 February, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, called for the creation of a European instrument dedicated to funding European defence projects. “We should enable more targeted and effective defence spending through a designated European instrument”, she told a group of journalists. According to Ms von der Leyen, quoted by Politico, the focus will be on capability areas of strategic European interest, “such as integrated European air defence, deep- and precision strike capabilities, drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), missiles and munitions and, of course, the military use of artificial intelligence”. The President also highlighted that she had proposed coordinated activations of the national safeguard clause of the Stability and Growth Pact and that the availability of private finance needed to be increased. (CG)