Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and eight other European countries want to combine missile defense and air defense systems

The German magazine Der Spiegel reports that 12 European countries want to unite missile defense and air defense systems.

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Defense ministers of the countries that make up NATO plan to sign a declaration to this effect at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels. According to Spiegel, the document will be signed by Belgium, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Finland, the Czech Republic and Estonia.

The idea to create a unified air and missile defense system belongs to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He announced it in late summer during a speech at Charles University in Prague.

According to Scholz, a joint system would be more efficient than separate systems in each EU country. At the time, the idea interested the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and, in fact, Germany itself.

Source: Der Spiegel