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Leaders of four EU member states call on European institutions to support joint defense initiatives on the EU's eastern border

President of the Republic of Lithuania

June 20, 2025

President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, together with the Prime Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Poland, sent a letter to the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, calling for focused attention to joint European Union security initiatives along the EU's eastern border.

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.

President Nausėda and the Prime Ministers of Latvia, Estonia and Poland stress that their countries have made defense a clear priority, with an ambition to allocate no less than 5% 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.

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.

The 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.

The President's Communication Group