Motivation remains high in Latvia to continue efforts to aid Ukraine, with the country’s small size encouraging specialization. This is best seen in the recently announced Drone Coalition, which will see Riga lead allied efforts to deliver much-needed unmanned systems to Kyiv. 

Riga has found itself at the centre of questions concerning NATO defence for many years. However, in recent years, these issues have increasingly moved beyond the abstract. Latvia must now prepare itself for a potential confrontation with Russian aggression while also ensuring the effectiveness of long-term alliance commitments.

Since regaining independence in 1991, Estonia has undergone a rapid and determined transformation, embracing modernization, democracy and western integration. Yet its path to NATO membership and security reform was anything but straightforward, as it was shaped by regional geopolitics, western hesitations, and the lessons of Nordic neighbours. 

NATO’s newest members Finland and Sweden are already net contributors to Allied security. Well known for their military capability, the two countries also bring a new approach into the Alliance: total defence. While military cooperation is intensifying, civil defence and civil-military cooperation need to be better integrated into Nordic-Baltic regional defence. 

Climate governance has been captured by solutions that involve the financialization of nature. The first COP in the Amazon is an opportunity to face the impacts of these projects, betting on the rights and territorial sovereignty of Amazonian populations.

The Trump Administration’s new budget law is a back door to implementing major portions of the MAGA agenda. It could become one of the most destructive, anti-climate, anti-poor, and anti-working class pieces of legislation in US history and risks the country’s long-term economic stability.

Today, a united Europe no longer means everyone at the same time. On key issues such as defence, digitalisation, and key technologies, alliances of the willing are needed – both within and beyond the EU.

Our deterrence can only be backed by real numbers. How many weapons we have, how large is our army, wider military, and personnel numbers, and so on. That is why we need to move now with our implementation as quickly as possible. An interview with Andrius Kubilius, the European Union’s Commissioner for Defence and Space.