The EU has approved the SAFE program. EUR 43.7 billion will flow to Poland
The countries that will benefit from the low-interest loan also include Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Finland.
Under the EU program, the Polish government will be able to use approximately EUR 43.7 billion in the form of loans with favorable interest rates (3%) and spend them on defense investments. According to the declaration of Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government, over 80 percent the money is to be spent in the Polish arms industry. The Polish list included 139 projects. – Only for the Stalowa Wola steelworks alone, the investment value will exceed PLN 20 billion. This is not my forecast, but that of the arms agency, assures Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The aim of SAFE is to strengthen the defense of European Union countries as quickly as possible through the purchase of equipment, primarily from the European industry. The instrument is designed to finance relatively short-term projects lasting until 2030 at most.
19 beneficiaries of the SAFE program
The SAFE program provides a total of EUR 150 billion of support in the form of low-interest loans for the purchase of military equipment. The project is intended to support EU countries in strengthening their defense potential and to reduce their dependence on US weapons. A total of 19 Member States participate in SAFE. The plans of France, the Czech Republic and Hungary are still awaiting approval.
In the next step, two agreements will be concluded between Poland and the European Commission: a loan agreement and an investment agreement. The EC will then proceed to disburse advance payments. The Polish advance will amount to EUR 6.6 billion. An EU source told PAP that this could happen as early as mid-March, on the first anniversary of the establishment of the SAFE program.
Poland is legally prepared for SAFE
The Sejm has already passed an act implementing the program and placing it on Polish legal basis. Now the Senate will consider it. The act will enable the establishment of a special fund managed by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, through which money from the SAFE program can be spent.
The votes rejected PiS’s amendments, which criticize the transparency of spending funds from this program. According to opposition politicians, SAFE may be used in the future as an element of political pressure on Poland. Jarosław Kaczyński said that President Karol Nawrocki should veto the law implementing this EU program. – However, there is a loan until 2070, on the one hand, a great opportunity, of course we cannot fall into completely negative emotions about the SAFE program, but on the other hand we cannot fall into such journalistic hurray-optimism – noted President Karol Nawrocki, not second-guessing his decision.
