Recall that in September, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced the allocation of EUR 43.7 billion to Poland from the EU SAFE program (Support to Accelerate Funding for European defense). The loan is to be repaid over 45 years – in the first decade only in the form of interest – and according to the original assumptions, all the funds are to go to the Armed Forces Support Fund. This money is intended to finance the purchase of weapons and the modernization of the Polish army.
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The Ministry with a new idea for military spending
However, an idea has emerged in the Ministry of State Assets allocate a small part of the funds – a few percent of the total pool – to direct investments in domestic arms plants. — We are in dialogue with the Ministry of National Defense and the ministries of finance and economy about changing legal regulations so that part of these funds could be allocated to investments in industry – Konrad Gołota, deputy minister of state assets, told “Rzeczpospolita”.
As he emphasized, such a decision would be of key importance for the future competitiveness of the Polish defense industry. — If the largest European companies invest with the help of SAFE funds, and Poland spends them only on arms purchases, there will be an investment gap that we will not be able to make up for. – Gołota pointed out.
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According to “Rz”, the MAP proposal is consistent with the original assumptions of the EU instrument whose purpose is “rapidly increasing the production capacity of the European defense industry”. As the daily reminds, the Polish government – when creating internal regulations – limited the possibility of using SAFE funds only for the purchase of military equipment, giving up the investment component of the program.
If the MAP concept is approved by the Ministry of Defense and the European Commission, some of the billions from SAFE could be allocated to expansion of national production lines, modernization of arms plants and increasing the share of Polish companies in the supply chain for the European defense sector.
As noted by “Rzeczpospolita”, the decision on this matter may determine whether Poland will fully take advantage of the opportunity to strengthen its defense industry within the new EU security architecture, or will remain only a recipient of ready-made weapons from abroad.
