25 June 2026 16:45 UTC · European Commission · EU Commission Press Release · Source · Email X Link

European Commission says Eastern Flank Watch strengthens EU defence

Key points

European Commission states Eastern Flank Watch is a flagship European defence project
European Commission states Eastern Flank countries carry largest defence investment and deserve EU solidarity

TL;DR

European Commission says Eastern Flank Watch defends the Eastern Flank region and the whole Union.
European Commission reports Eastern Flank countries invested 76 bln euro of a 150 bln total and are using SAFE loans for regional defence.
European Commission announces Eastern Flank Watch is a leading EDPCI project pending Commission evaluation and Council approval to access EDIP programme grants.
European Commission notes Ukraine participates in EDPCI development and that the region needs wider infrastructure and resilience support; thanks Poland for organizing the summit.

Original text

European Commission - Speech [Check Against Delivery] Press Statement by Commissioner Kubilius after the Eastern Flank Summit Gdańsk, 25 June 2026 1. Summit reminds - Eastern Flank Watch is for defence of the Eastern Flank region and for defence of the whole Union. 2. The Member States from Eastern Flank region are taking the biggest responsibility and heaviest burden of investment into defence in the whole Union. 3. Eastern Flank countries invest the biggest percentage of their national GDP into defence of the whole Europe and are taking the biggest responsibility to use SAFE loans for defence of the region, but also of the whole Union . Total amount - 76 bln euro out from 150 bln. 4. Eastern Flank countries, which defend the whole Union, deserve solidarity of the whole EU. It is very important that recent EUCO stressed this solidarity principle in its Conclusions, while speaking about importance of Eastern Flank Watch project for the whole Europe. 5. I would like to remind, that Commission from the very beginning was considering Eastern Flank Watch as one of the most important flagship defence projects of Europe and stressed it in European Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030, which was published by Commission last October. 6. Today I would like to inform, that Eastern Flank Watch is one of the leading European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCI's) projects, which together with other 4 projects, very soon will be evaluated by Commission and presented to the Council for final approval. That will give to Eastern Flank Watch project high European political status and will create possibilities for the EFW project to get access to EDIPprogramme grants. 7. It's very important that Ukraine is participating as a participating member state of EDPCI in the development of EFW project. Their experience in drone defence and ground defence is very much needed for EFW to become a success. 8. The region needs assistance not only in the development of its defence capabilities, but also in the development of all other infrastructure, needed for preparedness: military mobility, energy supply security, health care readiness. 9. Also, I would like to remind recent Commission Communication on Eastern Border Region, which was on 18th February presented by my colleague, Vice President of Commision Rafaele Fitto and which put very clear goal to support economical and social resilience of the region, which is suffering because of the increasing threats. 10. Eastern Flank Summit is very important, because it shows political unity of the region. Such unity can bring new ideas from this region to materialize in the form of more intensive cooperation in the areas of common defence policies, joint proposals for development of European security architecture, regional integrated defence market development, attraction of investment into development of modern defence industries in the region. Region has huge potential, together with Ukraine, to become a new powerhouse of European defence industry. 11. I would like to thank leadership of Poland for organizing this very important Summit for the defence of the whole Europe. SPEECH/26/1464

Key tags

Topics

Keywords

Stats

Word count: 502

Summary words: 110

Compression: 22%

Boilerplate removed: Yes

Top phrases:

Entities

People

Organizations

Places

Countries

Regions

Europe