Central and Eastern European Presidents Agree to Strengthen Air Defense and Eastern Border

On June 28, presidents from the Central and Eastern European region met for an informal summit in Poland, where they agreed on a common position ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara in July. The summit was attended by Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs, Polish President Karol Nawrocki, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, Estonian President Alar Karis, and Romanian President Nicușor Dan.

The leaders visited the Gdynia Naval Port and held talks at the Polish presidential residence in Jurata. Discussions focused on enhancing regional cooperation and security issues in the Baltic and Black Sea regions. The presidents addressed Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the growing risk of hybrid threats at NATO and EU external borders. They were unanimous in the need to strengthen air defense and the eastern border. Key aspects of transatlantic relations were also discussed.

A central topic at the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara on July 7-8 will be progress toward the alliance's defense spending target of 5% of GDP by 2035. Latvia's Ambassador to NATO, Māris Riekstiņš, noted that such an assessment is necessary due to past experience: when the 2% target was set in 2014, several member states gradually failed to increase investments and only made relevant decisions before 2024, resulting in lower defense spending than needed. According to the ambassador, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland have already reached the 5% level, setting an example for others.

The second major summit topic is further development of the defense industry, with a special forum planned involving defense industry representatives, including participants from Latvia. The third topic is continued support for Ukraine. NATO Secretary General Mark Ritte has recently spoken about the need to more proportionally allocate funds for Ukraine among member states, as currently about 11 countries bear the largest financial burden while others contribute significantly less. Riekstiņš emphasized that this burden should be balanced. Latvia, along with Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, and Norway, would like to see a more concrete approach—just as a 5% target is set for defense spending, a specific threshold should be agreed upon for Ukraine support.

The 5% target adopted at the 2025 Hague summit consists of two levels: at least 3.5% of GDP for direct defense needs and up to 1.5% for broader security-related investments, such as critical infrastructure protection, cyber resilience, and strengthening the defense industry. The NATO summit in Ankara will take place on July 7-8, with defense ministerial discussions scheduled for June 18 in Brussels as part of the final preparations.