Romania will receive 16.68 billion euros through the European Safe mechanism, a decision that from my point of view represents a political message of first importance. The European Union is again with Romania.
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Safe is the response of the European Union to the new security realities after Russia's invasion in Ukraine. It is a strategic move by which Europe strengthens its eastern flank, but also the internal defense chains. Romania is thus more protected and, extremely important, is in the first plane of this common effort.
This financing obviously means that we will have access to several military equipment and means industrial partnerships between European states. It means planning, long -term investments and definitive integration of Romania into the European Defense Network. After all, it means confidence. That's about it.
Thus we have the second largest allocation in the SAFE mechanism between all EU states. Why? Because Romania is, at this moment, one of the active borders of the Union and because it has shown that it can be serious when it comes to security, solidarity and clear strategic direction, maintained by our country, supported with national efforts, for years.
Europe invests these billions, many, because he knows that in the east of the continent, the future of European defense is written and because he knows that Romania plays a key role in this equation.
The 16.68 billion, of course, are not a gift. I am an advantageous loan, negotiated at European level, with a period of 10 years and a repayment period of 40 years. BUT! There are resources that will help the construction of military technique factories in Romania, to common acquisitions with other European states, to modernize the infrastructure in the northeast of the country, where our roads become strategic roads for the EU and, above all, NATO.
No Member State, taken individually, could have obtained these lending conditions on their own. Safe thus becomes both a financial tool and clear proof, one of many, that belonging to the European Union means collective force, stability and access to resources impossible to reach otherwise. It is still a proof that the EU works and that Romania benefits directly when it acts as part of a team. We cannot, it is clear for any clear man, to act isolated. I think no one poses this problem.
And I want to emphasize other huge benefits for us. A7 and A8, highways expected for decades, are, through Safe, repositioned as civil and military infrastructure. There are no longer just our national ambitions and needs, they become European goals because there, in that area, the security of an entire region is decided. It is enough to take a look at the map.
Equally, this allocation can open real doors for Romanian defense and construction companies. We are talking about orders, partnerships, production chains, but also about well -paid, stable and specialized jobs, that is exactly that type of competitive and resilient economy that we want to build in Romania, with the support of Europe.
Romania was, is and will remain part of the European project, and this is seen with the naked eye, in no case in line, or as a passive beneficiary. We are a contributing state, which requires what is right for him and who receives what he needs because he is part of the solution. It is a simply enthusiastic position we are in now. We have options, opportunities, we have cheap and long -term funds. Decades!
Finally, this new step taken by the European Commission, the European Parliament and all those who supported the SAFE mechanism confirms a simple thing. In important moments, Europe has always been here with us. And Romania, with good and bad, but clearly with many good, knew how to be at the height of expectations. Maybe we can't see each other, not yet, but the EU knows that we are a country that matters.
Today, when geopolitics has returned with brutal forces in our lives, the answer cannot be isolationism, or cheap nationalism, or populism. Not even a word. Only some characters created at the Russian Embassy in Bucharest could think so … The answer is cooperation, it is integration. The answer, good people, is Europe.
And I think it is good that the Romanians see, step by step, that the European Union is a shield as real as possible!
So we have the opportunity. We have the resources. Now, as always, we need rigor, transparency and speed in implementation. Romania will be consolidated, definitively, as an EU safety pillar, with huge economic, industrial, social and security benefits.
