Estonian Parliament makes its stance on EU drone action plan more demanding

TALLINN - The Riigikogu's European Union Affairs Committee (ELAK), taking into account proposals from the National Defense Committee, has made the government's position on the European Union's action plan for drone and anti-drone security more demanding.

According to committee chairman Peeter Tali, the European Union must act decisively and immediately to establish a credible drone capability. "In the long term, this is key for Europe's competitiveness as well as its defense capability. The rapid development of drone-related curricula, starting engineering and robotics education at the earliest possible stage, and cooperation between member states in designing educational models are all very important," Tali said.

"Therefore, ELAK added a clause to Estonia's position stating that it must be possible to apply for funding for the development of drone curricula, centers of excellence, and regional testing capabilities from both existing European Union programs and the funds of the next budgetary period, 2028-2034," the chairman explained.

Tali also noted that the opportunity to participate in developing anti-drone testing capabilities is of significant importance to Estonia. "The European Union wants to support the creation of testing centers for drone and anti-drone technologies in Eastern Europe. This initiative is very important for us - considering the general security situation, and especially the events of the last six months, not to mention that it would be a very good opportunity for our defense industry companies. However, we are of the opinion that the testing center should definitely be located not in Eastern Europe, but in countries on the EU's eastern border, meaning in Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, or Romania. Here, we have real drones flying, and Putin's regime is actually using means of electronic warfare," he explained.

The government's positions on the European Union's action plan for drone and anti-drone security were presented at the meeting by Regina Tagger, an adviser in the innovation field at the Government Office's Strategy Unit. The European Union Affairs Committee unanimously approved the positions in line with the opinion of the National Defense Committee.