Brussels ignores Poland in the first tranche of the SAFE program. What next with the billions for defense?
The EU's SAFE instrument (Security Action for Europe) is a new mechanism aimed at supporting member states in defense investments through cheap, long-term loans. The program, worth a total of EUR 150 billion, is intended to facilitate the purchase of military equipment and the development of defense capabilities in response to growing geopolitical tensions.
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SAFE – the EU defense support program and the first payments without Poland
The first tranche of approved disbursements of funds to EU countries did not include Poland, even though our country is the largest potential beneficiary of the program with the requested amount of approximately EUR 43.7 billion. Poland has submitted a rich investment plan – including 139 projects related to, among others: with air defense, cybersecurity and artillery systems – which, however, will be included in the second group of applications consideredwrites the website wnp.pl.
One of the main reasons for the delay is the extensiveness of the Polish application, which consists of nearly 300 pages of documents and requires longer negotiations with the European Commission than shorter plans of other countries.
“Negotiating a plan that is 300 pages long is much longer and more tedious than a plan that is 50 pages long.” – said an EU diplomat, quoted by RMF 24.
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Why did Poland “end up in the second line” and what next?
According to the rules of the SAFE program, disbursement of the first loan tranches is to begin after the approval of investment plans by the European Commission and then by the EU Council. The schedule assumes that these decisions will be made in batches – and Poland has been placed in the next group of countries waiting for approval, as the wnp.pl website reminds.
Brussels also has comments on some of the proposed projects – some of them required clarification of defense componentsand the EC is pushing for joint purchases of equipment with other member states instead of only independent purchases.
Polish negotiators are trying to obtain consent to implement previously planned projects and maintain the disbursement schedule, which will allow the signing of loan agreements in the first quarter of 2026 and the disbursement of funds.
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