On Wednesday 8 October in Strasbourg, MEPs gave their backing, albeit with some reservations concerning its expected effectiveness, to the EU’s ‘Drone Wall’ initiative, as announced by President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, as well as the ‘Eastern Flank Watch’ initiative, during a plenary debate on ways of responding to recent Russian violations of EU Member States’ airspace and critical infrastructure.
According to the joint motion for a resolution by the EPP, S&D, ECR, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups, still to be voted on at the Thursday 9 October plenary session, MEPs note that the Commission’s ambitious deadline for completing the ‘drone wall’ “requires rapid implementation as part of a broader defence shield along the EU’s and NATO’s eastern flank in response to repeated Russian airspace violations”.
The European Parliament will be calling on the Commission to present “a coherent plan at the European Council meeting on 23-24 October” and recognises the challenge posed by the “high cost of intercepting drones”, while calling for joint programmes to promote the development of cost-effective counter-UAV capabilities (technologies for neutralising or intercepting unmanned aerial vehicles).
Russian assets frozen. The joint motion for a resolution calls on EU Member States and their G7 partners to “immediately endorse the Commission proposal to use all frozen Russian assets as a foundation for a substantial grant and loan to Ukraine, with reimbursement contingent on the future payment of war reparations by Russia, as a legally sound and financially significant way to maintain and increase EU support for Ukraine’s military needs, including counter-drone defence” (see EUROPE 13721/2).
Danish Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre condemned Russia’s actions, including airspace violations in Poland, Romania and Estonia, as well as hybrid threats. She called for a “united, clear and resolute” European response to protect citizens and support Ukraine. She highlighted EU measures and initiatives, such as the SAFE instrument, and noted that, last week in Copenhagen, EU leaders had discussed “progress in the agreed priority areas, which include air and missile defence, artillery, drones and anti-drone systems, military mobility and cyber resilience” (see EUROPE 13721/1).
Ursula von der Leyen spoke about the ‘Eastern Flank Watch’ and ‘Drone Wall’ projects. The latter is described as the EU’s response to the realities of modern warfare: in incidents such as those in Poland, it has been necessary to deploy very expensive systems (latest generation fighter jets) to neutralise relatively cheap, mass-produced drones. “This is absolutely not sustainable. We need a system that is affordable and fit for purpose. For swift detection, swift interception, and when needed, swift neutralisation”, said the president (https://aeur.eu/f/iud ).
She added that, although the current priority is the eastern border, the project aims to provide 360-degree protection for the whole Union, including the southern flank, and must respond to a wide range of challenges: natural disasters, international organised crime, weaponised migration and surveillance of the Russian fleet.
Andrzej Halicki (EPP, Polish) welcomed the ‘European Drone Wall’ and ‘Eastern Flank Watch’ initiatives and also called for certain chemicals to be removed from the scope of the ETS (EU Emissions Trading System).
“The time has come for a proposal to confiscate the €200 billion in frozen Russian assets”, said Iratxe García Pérez (S&D, Spanish).
Pierre-Romain Thionnet (PfE, French) felt that “outrageous statements equating any intrusion with an act of war or calling for the shooting down of any flying object are counter-productive”.
On the contrary, Valérie Hayer (Renew Europe, French) felt that the EU should “acknowledge the confrontation with Russia and step up our response”. Ms Hayer even suggested sanctioning Viktor Orbán for allegedly sending Hungarian drones into Ukrainian airspace.
Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, German) advocated, an “anti-drone defence network” on the southern border and an end to “polluting Russian fossil fuel imports”.
For Danilo Della Valle (The Left, Italian), the Russian attack on Nord Stream “was in reality Ukrainian”. The group warns against “the political exploitation of air incidents to justify an arms race“.
Joint motion for a resolution and amendments: https://aeur.eu/f/iu0 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)