European defence needs to become stronger as Russia becomes more aggressive around Northern Europe, Danish Prime Minister (Statsminister) Mette Frederiksen said on Bornholm on Thursday, after a week in which Nordic and Baltic leaders placed air defence, drones and weapons production at the centre of their security agenda.
Frederiksen frames European defence as a Baltic Sea issue
Speaking to reporters after addressing the opening of Folkemødet (People’s Meeting), Denmark’s annual political festival on Bornholm, Frederiksen was asked whether Europe needs a common military force with a shared command structure. The question followed DR reporting on Russia’s military build-up along borders with Nordic and Baltic countries and on scenarios in which Denmark could be drawn in if Russia attacked a European NATO member state.
Frederiksen did not present a formal proposal for a single European army. Instead, she pointed to the need to strengthen common combat power and defence capability among countries that share the Baltic Sea and sit close to Russia.
“What we discussed was the strengthening of our common combat power and defence capability, because we share the Baltic Sea and are collectively close to Russia,” she said.
The formulation is significant because it places Danish security in a regional frame. For Copenhagen, the Baltic Sea is no longer only a trade and infrastructure space. It is increasingly treated as a shared security theatre involving the Nordic countries, the Baltic states, NATO and the EU.
Drone defence and air defence move up the Nordic agenda
Frederiksen described Russia as “more and more aggressive”, citing drone attacks, threats to critical infrastructure and disinformation. She said northern European governments are discussing drone preparedness, air defence and faster defence production together with Ukraine.
Her remarks reflect a wider shift in European security planning. At the NB8 summit in Tallinn earlier this week, leaders from Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Iceland, Finland, Sweden and Norway met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and signed a declaration that described Russia as the “most significant, long-term, and direct threat to Euro-Atlantic security”. The same declaration identified air defence, drones, autonomous systems, maritime capabilities and logistics as priorities for cooperation.
The focus on drones is no longer limited to Ukraine’s battlefield. Russia’s war has shown that cheap and fast-evolving unmanned systems can expose gaps in traditional defence planning. For Denmark and its neighbours, the issue also has a domestic dimension, from the protection of airports and military sites to the security of energy cables, ports and other critical infrastructure around the Baltic Sea.
Ukraine’s war experience becomes part of Europe’s security planning
A central part of the Tallinn declaration was the idea that Ukraine is not only receiving support from European partners, but also contributing to their security. The NB8 leaders said they would integrate Ukrainian battlefield experience into training, exercises, information sharing and defence-industrial cooperation.
That is close to Frederiksen’s message on Bornholm. When she said Europe must “speed up” defence production with Ukrainians, she was pointing to a model in which Ukraine’s military innovation becomes part of Europe’s own deterrence.
Reuters reported from Tallinn that Ukraine and Latvia signed a drone cooperation agreement on the sidelines of the summit, while the NB8 group agreed to promote joint drone production with Ukrainian companies. This gives Frederiksen’s statement a practical dimension: stronger European defence is increasingly being defined by production capacity, industrial cooperation and rapid adaptation, not only by headline spending targets.
The EU is trying to turn defence spending into capability
Frederiksen’s comments also fit into the EU’s broader Readiness 2030 agenda. The European Commission and the High Representative presented the White Paper for European Defence in March 2025, alongside the ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030 plan, intended to close capability gaps and strengthen Europe’s defence industry. The EU executive says the plan could unlock more than €800 billion in defence spending across the bloc.
The new SAFE instrument, adopted by the Council of the European Union in May 2025, provides up to €150 billion in loans for defence investment, including missile defence, drones, anti-drone systems, cyber capabilities and critical infrastructure protection.
Denmark is already moving in this direction. In April, Reuters reported that Denmark had selected the European SAMP/T NG air defence system supplied through Eurosam, with deliveries scheduled from 2028. The decision was presented as part of a wider European effort to reduce dependence on non-European suppliers and strengthen domestic capabilities.
Stronger European defence does not mean replacing NATO
The debate on a stronger European defence often raises the question of whether the EU should become a military actor separate from NATO. Frederiksen’s answer on Bornholm was more pragmatic. She avoided endorsing a specific common command structure and focused instead on capabilities that northern European countries can build together: drones, air defence, production, readiness and resilience.
That distinction matters for the Nordic region. Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Finland and Sweden are NATO members, while Denmark, Finland and Sweden are also EU member states. The most likely path is therefore not a sudden leap toward a single European army, but a denser network of European and Nordic-Baltic cooperation inside the broader NATO framework.
For Denmark, the message is clear: security in the Baltic Sea region now depends on how quickly Europe can produce, coordinate and protect. Frederiksen’s remarks show that Copenhagen sees stronger European defence not as a distant institutional debate, but as an immediate response to Russia’s behaviour and to the lessons of the war in Ukraine.
