EC spokesman: Poland received the text of the SAFE loan agreement

Late on Thursday afternoon, the European Commission sent the text of the SAFE loan agreement to 18 of the 19 member states participating in this program, including Poland, confirmed EC spokesman Thomas Regnier.

Regnier said that 18 EU countries, including Poland, whose national defense investment plans were approved by the European Commission and the EU Council, received a template SAFE loan agreement from the Commission on Thursday.

– Once each Member State completes its national procedure, the Commission will immediately proceed to sign the loan agreements – announced the spokesman.

Agreements were also sent to the Czech Republic and France, whose plans were accepted by the EC with a delay and approved by the EU Council only two weeks ago. Hungary is the only country whose plan has not been approved. According to EU sources, the reason is that Budapest has still not made the changes required by the EC to its plan.

The transfer of the contract to Poland was also confirmed by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. On Platform X, she wrote that she told Prime Minister Donald Tusk that Poland is a key pillar of the security architecture in Europe. – You help maintain the security of our eastern flank. Therefore, Poland is the largest beneficiary of the SAFE program. Today we handed over the SAFE loan agreement to Poland, which will allow the release of over EUR 43 billion for defense projects, she wrote.

Earlier on Thursday, a source close to government circles confirmed in an interview with PAP that the EU promised to send the documentation by the end of this week.

Now the duration of national procedures will determine whether the loan agreement can be signed in April or in May.

Originally, the loan agreements were to be finalized in March, which was confirmed by the Polish government. Then, however, the Commission decided to prepare a unified template of the contract, to which, according to PAP information, member countries submitted about 250 amendments. On Thursday, the new contract template was sent to Warsaw and the other 17 capitals.

The sooner the agreement is signed, the sooner Poland will receive a 15% advance payment (approx. EUR 6.5 billion). The EC granted Poland a total of EUR 43.7 billion; these funds are intended to finance defense projects provided for in the Polish investment plan. This means that – as von der Leyen mentioned – Poland is the largest beneficiary of the SAFE program among the 19 EU countries that have signed up to it.

The EU SAFE program provides for EUR 150 billion of support in the form of, among others: low-interest loans, primarily for the purchase of military equipment, especially those produced in Europe.

From Brussels Jowita Kiwnik Pargana (PAP)

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