Leaders to present details of “iron dome” air defence system for Europe in coming days, says Tusk

Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has announced that he and other European leaders will in the coming days present details of a “pan-European air defence” system that he has labelled an “iron dome”.

On Monday, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced €300 million of backing for Poland to create an earth observation satellite system. The bank noted that this was part of its new efforts to “support Europe’s security and defence industry.”

“This is a significant amount, thanks to which our plan to build an iron dome over Poland and Europe has again moved a step forward,” said Tusk on Monday, speaking alongside EIB president Nadia Calviño in Warsaw.

“Satellite and reconnaissance systems will be an essential part of this project, which I will present together with other European prime ministers in a few days,” added the prime minister. “The idea of ​​pan-European air defence will become less and less a dream and more and more a real, practical plan.”

Later, in an interview with broadcaster TVN, Tusk said that he and his Greek counterpart Kyriakos Mitsotakis are preparing a joint letter addressed to EU institutions regarding the need for a joint air defence initiative.

“Slowly, [even] the most cautious and sceptical leaders are beginning to understand that if we are to talk seriously about Europe’s security and military strength, we must start with this dome, because then the European advantage over Russia – financial, economic and technological – will find its full expression,” said Tusk.

“This must be a joint venture” in order to “eliminate unwise competition between member states”, he added.

Last month, Tusk expressed interest in joining a pan-European air defence project during a meeting with his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen.

“Denmark along with Germany and the UK are cooperating on a European anti-missile and anti-aircraft defence system,” said Tusk at the time, adding that Frederiksen had “responded positively to my intention for Poland to join this project”.

The European Sky Shield Initiative (ESSI), to give it its official title, was launched by German Chancellor Olal Scholz in 2022 with the participation of 15 European states, all of which are in NATO. Further countries have since joined the initiative.

The plans have, however, been met with criticism from Poland’s main opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), which refused to join ESSI while it was in office until December last year.

It argues that Poland should focus on its existing air defence plans, put in place when PiS was in power, rather than joining an “expensive and time-consuming” new project, as PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński described ESSI last weekend.

Some in PiS have also suggested that ESSI is intended, above all, to benefit Germany. It “favours the German arms industry”, said Mariusz Błasczak, the former PiS defence minister, last month.

“Can we afford to finance two systems, including the German one, the so-called European one, which is much more expensive and much less advanced than the Polish system?” asked Błaszczak at the time.

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Main image credit: Kancelaria Premiera / flickr.com (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.