Baltic States, Poland call for EU’s focused attention to protection of EU's eastern border

VILNIUS – The Baltic countries and Poland have called the European Union’s (EU) institutions to support projects aimed at protecting the Community's eastern border.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, together with the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Poland, sent a letter to the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for focused attention to joint EU security initiatives along the bloc’s eastern border, the presidential office said in a press release on Friday.

“The letter underscores that Russia’s war against Ukraine and the deepening security crisis in Europe require a coordinated and determined response. Russia is testing Europe’s resilience – particularly along the eastern borders of EU member states – through acts of sabotage, destabilization, and the instrumentalization of migrants,” the presidential office said.

The letter highlights two strategic initiatives – the Baltic Defense Line and the Eastern Shield – which aim to bolster deterrence capabilities along the EU’s and NATO’s eastern flank by implementing layered defensive measures. Coordination of these initiatives among the four countries is already underway.

According to the letter, the countries’ leaders call on European institutions to recognize these initiatives as projects of common European interest and to consider providing both financial and political support through all available EU instruments.

Nauseda and the prime ministers of Latvia, Estonia and Poland also stress that their countries have made defense a clear priority, with an ambition to allocate no less than 5 percent of GDP to defense. The countries are also actively cooperating to strengthen border security and to build a robust first line of defense for the entire Union.