The European Union needs a NATO-like mechanism to better respond to drone incidents, acts of sabotage and cyberattacks across Europe, many of them blamed on Russia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday (September 16, 2026).
Von der Leyen said that the system should be similar to Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allows countries believing that their territory is under threat to convene emergency meetings. “Europe needs its own counter-hybrid playbook. Officials in Germany, Denmark, and Poland have in recent weeks accused Russia of involvement in drone incursions, sabotage, arson, surveillance of defence facilities and planning to use a drone carrying explosives to attack an airport. Ms.
We urgently need a consensus on how to respond to certain incidents,” Ms. von der Leyen said, particularly for acts that “fall below armed aggression but clearly threaten our national security.
Ms. No details were provided.
“When triggered by one member state, all member states would convene to coordinate a European response, to deter further escalation, and to mitigate the impact,” she said. Von der Leyen also said that the EU Commission will “set out our ideas to make a European Security Council a reality. It would involve other international partners like Britain, Canada, Norway and Ukraine, she said.
