European Commission President Ursula von der Laien said on Friday that the Commission has received funding requests of € 150 billion ($ 175.61 billion) available under the European Safe Initiative for the re -engagement.

He added that 19 countries, including Latvia, have applied for support through this tool.

The initiative, inaugurated earlier this year, aims to strengthen Europe’s defense potential, helping Member States to replenish their military reserves and strengthen strategic autonomy.

Speaking with Latvia Prime Minister Evika Silinia, von der Laien praised the country’s work to become “real drones and anti-Drones” in Europe, contributing to NATO’s security in the region of Russia.

“We know that Europe is safe only if the eastern border is safe,” he noted.

The president of the Commission also added that “the risks for which your country and other Baltic countries had warned us, unfortunately, have now been implemented. Russia’s violent war against Ukraine is now in its fourth year. Putin is a predator, his agents have targeted our societies for years with hybrid attacks, cyberattacks, and tooling immigrants is another example. “

Von der Laien also revealed that the EU has achieved a “full coverage” of the 150 billion euro Safe mechanism for joint supplies as part of the wider effort to strengthen European defense production.

The President of the Commission, who served as German Defense Minister in the Angela Merkel government, stressed that “the whole European Union must understand that it is important to work on readiness, immediate readiness” in order to face increasing risks and threats.

He also referred to the importance of economic flexibility for EU member states “to invest in their own defense”, but also to the need to examine more common supplies at European level.

At the same time, von der Laien stressed that the EU should continue to work to strengthen Ukrainian armed forces to make them “like a steel hedgehog, inaccessible to potential invaders”.