EU shores up the eastern front with EastInvest, now ready to support states on the Russian and Belarusian border

Brussels – The EU is mobilising to defend its eastern flank. There are around 5,000 kilometres of border – 3,500 with Russia and Belarus, 1,500 with Ukraine – to secure, and border regions in nine Member States to support, as they have been worn down by four years of conflict. “These are not only national borders. They are European borders. And what happens there concerns all Europeans,” the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Cohesion and Reforms, Raffaele Fitto, said, when presenting a new strategy dedicated to the Eastern Flank. 

The line separating the EU from Russia, Belarus, and military operations in Ukraine runs through nine Member States: Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. Since 2022, their border regions have been particularly affected by hybrid warfare, the exploitation of migration, economic and trade disruptions, and, ultimately, abandonment and demographic decline.

 Citizens “demand the right to remain,” said Fitto, responsible for EU cohesion policy. The strategy launched by the European Commission is cross-cutting, because while it is true that “security and defence are a prerequisite”, it is equally true that “these regions also need investment, services, connectivity and economic prospects,” the Executive Vice-President insisted. Brussels has identified five priority areas: security and resilience; regional growth and prosperity; exploiting existing regional strengths; connectivity; and support for people.

 The two most high-profile projects in the pipeline are the Eastern Flank Watch, the initiative to strengthen defence with drones and a European air shield, and a new financial instrument, EastInvest, to facilitate access to loans and advice for the nine member countries, primarily involving the EIB (European Investment Bank), “international financial institutions and various national and regional development banks.” The strategy does not allocate new resources, but the Commission estimates that through the EastInvest financing platform, which will be launched on 26 February, “up to 28 billion euros will be mobilised between 2026 and 2027 in private and public investment in the Member States concerned.” 

Connectivity also aims to accelerate the integration of the Baltic States’ electricity grid into European networks; develop cross-border hydrogen infrastructure, such as the Nordic-Baltic Hydrogen Corridor; promote digital connectivity; and upgrade transport networks, including civil-military road, rail, and port infrastructure. Finally, it aims to address the depopulation problem and labour shortages in the eastern regions through specific training and employment programmes.