EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured Lithuania and Latvia of the support of their organizations during a joint visit on Sunday.

In their talks with the heads of government of both countries and the Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, they discussed both the situation on the borders with Belarus and the Russian deployment on the borders with Ukraine.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Von der Leyen and Stoltenberg emphasized the close cooperation between the EU and NATO in averting hybrid threats and reaffirmed their will to “raise the cooperation to a new level” with a new joint declaration.

The joint trip - a novelty - took place before a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday in Riga.

Ministers will discuss the threat of a Russian attack on Ukraine and possible countermeasures.

Russia warned of attack on Ukraine

Von der Leyen took the opportunity to renew her call for a joint EU situation center (“joint situational awareness center”). She first spoke out in favor of it in September. It is expected that the Commission will specify the project at the beginning of next year. Like Stoltenberg, she referred to the existing cooperation with NATO in the defense against disinformation and cyber attacks. This should be expanded, both announced. Von der Leyen also recalled the recently decided increase in funds for the protection of the EU's borders with Belarus by 200 million euros this year and next. The money could be used for electronic surveillance, drones, patrol vehicles and equipment for border officials, she said - but not for building physical barriers.

"In order to divert attention from their internal problems, our opponents do not shy away from carrying out hybrid attacks against us," said von der Leyen, not only targeting Belarus. Stoltenberg reiterated his warning to Russia that an attack on Ukraine would have consequences. In this context, he referred to the sanctions imposed by the European Union after the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014 and the partial occupation of eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists.

The NATO foreign ministers will be discussing further possible sanctions in Riga - but these can only be imposed by the EU because NATO does not have such instruments. That also explains the joint trip of the heads of NATO and the Commission. The main role of the alliance is to provide military reassurance to its allies on the eastern flank and to deter Russia from attacking NATO territory.

In view of the migration crisis caused by Belarus, von der Leyen attested that Lithuania had reacted "humanely and decisively".

Lithuanian President Nauseda expressed the expectation that the EU would “revise” its asylum and migration law.

This is the direction in which the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki aimed at the German Press Agency.

“The previous refugee policy has proven to be a mistake.

Most of the EU countries, with the exception of one or two, have understood that we cannot have an open house and multicultural policy, ”he said, attributing such a policy to Angela Merkel and“ several other Western European heads of state and government ”.