Prime Minister: Whatever we cannot do with the SAFE program, we will do with budget funds

The government is trying to implement what cannot be done under the SAFE program using the state budget, Prime Minister Donald Tusk declared on Friday. He added that the government is looking for “some innovative methods” to implement at least some of the expenditure on services not subject to the Ministry of Defense and on infrastructure.

On Friday, on TVN24, the head of government emphasized that vetoing the act on the EU SAFE program hinders the use of funds that were supposed to be allocated, among others, for the Police, Border Guard and civilian security infrastructure. – I am not capitulating in this matter either and we will look for some innovative methods to implement at least some of these plans with this money. Whatever SAFE cannot do, we are trying to do with budget funds, Tusk said.

He also added that he treated seriously the proposal of the President of the National Bank of Poland, Adam Glapiński, and President Karol Nawrocki, called “Polish SAFE 0 percent”, but “there is no reliable information on how PLN 100 billion of losses (at NBP) would suddenly turn into a profit.” – I have the impression, and it is probably adequate to what happened, that (…) the point was to convince everyone that the original SAFE, coming from European funds, is bad and that we can have our good Glapiński and Nawrocki SAFE – argued the Prime Minister.

In his opinion, the motivation for the proposal of President Nawrocki and the president of the National Bank of Poland was “political” and was intended to “give the president an alibi for the veto.” As Tusk added, currently the only document at his disposal from President Glapiński is from a few weeks ago and it is information that the accumulated loss of the (central) bank is PLN 100 billion in three years and that the president expects losses also in the following years.

– President Nawrocki does not like the European Union and voices are increasingly heard – I take them seriously – that SAFE is so inconvenient from the point of view of President Nawrocki and PiS, because it is a loan for many, many years and could be one of the next anchors that keep Poland in the European Union – Tusk said. In his opinion, this may be the reason for the president's reaction to the SAFE program. As he added, “it has been a long time since there has been such a red and white project in the European Union as SAFE”, and “the only thing that has changed is the attitude in the (Presidential) Palace”.

Last week, President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the bill implementing the EU SAFE mechanism. The President submitted his own bill to the Sejm, the so-called Polish SAFE 0 percent In response to the president's veto, the Council of Ministers adopted a resolution on the Armed Poland Program. It authorizes the Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Finance and Economy to represent the Polish government and sign on its behalf the agreement and documents regarding the SAFE loan that Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego will take out for the Armed Forces Support Fund. BGK's financial liabilities under the SAFE loan will be covered by a State Treasury guarantee.

Karol Nawrocki and the president of the NBP presented an alternative to the EU SAFE at the beginning of March. The President of the National Bank of Poland then proposed to revaluate the gold held by the Polish central bank through “active management of reserves”, which could enable very high profits to be obtained. According to Glapiński, the value of unrealized revenues from the increase in the valuation of gold is PLN 197 billion. The NBP could pay this amount as profit within a few years, but the President of the NBP emphasized that the funds should be used exclusively for defense.

The act implementing the EU SAFE armament mechanism assumed the creation of a Financial Instrument for Enhancing Security, managed by Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, through which the government could use money from SAFE – the EU instrument for low-interest loans to quickly increase the defense of EU countries. According to the government's declaration, 89 percent these funds would go to Polish arms companies, and in addition to the army, the Police and the Border Guard were also to be supported.

The Polish application submitted to the program amounted to EUR 43.7 billion and was approved by EU institutions. Thus, Poland was indicated as the largest beneficiary of the program worth a total of EUR 150 billion. (PAP)

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