Belgian Defence Minister Theo Francken warned on Wednesday that Europe must prepare for further Russian hybrid attacks in the coming months, saying the continent faces a “dark winter”.
Speaking to Euronews journalist Angela Skujins at the Euronews Defence Summit in Brussels, Francken described Russia as the biggest threat to Belgium's security. The country has experienced several drone incidents this year, some of which disrupted air traffic.
"Russia, air attack, air attack, air attack. This is the biggest threat. So we need air defence, air defence, air defence," Francken said. He added that Europe needs Ukrainian technology to counter Russian jet-powered drones.
"We need to have more stocks, more production, scale up production, and a large industrial base. Everything has to go faster. There will be more hybrid threat actions in the next few months. It will be a dark winter for Europe," he said.
The minister said Russia has 50 years of expertise in hybrid attacks and that Belgium must keep pace with technological trends.
"I don't want to have 200,000 drones somewhere in a stock, and in two months you cannot even use them because they're outdated. So we have to adapt," he said.
'Worst pupil in NATO'
Francken said Belgium had long underinvested in defence, but that the country is now stepping up spending.
"We were like the worst pupil of the NATO class. We had 1 per cent of GDP in defence spending," he said, adding that spending has already doubled.
"But I cannot do in 18 months what has been neglected for 40 years."
Francken noted that Belgium currently has the EU’s highest debt and one of its most challenging budgetary positions, but said the government remains committed to increasing defence spending.
He added, however, that allocating 5% of GDP to defence would not be realistic for Belgium in the near term.
