Countries flock to claim EU defense loans, Poland gets lion’s share

ROME — Poland is set to utilize almost one-third of a European Union €150 billion ($176 billion) debt fund for defense spending, reflecting the country’s concerns about Russian aggression.

Warsaw has been allocated €43.7bn in loans by Brussels for arms purchases under the EU SAFE program, the bloc’s Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.

Set up in March, the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) plan involved an offer of €150bn in low-cost loans to EU member states and allies to quickly beef up defense capabilities in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing reluctance by the U.S. to shore up Europe’s defense.

On Tuesday Kubilius said that all the €150bn of loans had been subscribed to by 19 member states, and called the plan “a European success story.”

Behind Poland, Romania has been granted €16.7bn in loans while France and Hungary each took €16.2bn and Italy signed up for €14.9bn, he said.

Belgium will receive €8.3 billion, Lithuania €6.4 billion, Portugal €5.8 billion and Latvia €5.7 billion, while other loan cash recipients are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Slovakia and Spain.

As well as low interest payments, the loans also come with a ten-year grace period for repayment.

“I would like also to remind that when SAFE was announced early in spring, here was a lot of skepticism about possible low interest to take the loans. The contrary is true. The interest from the member states have been a resounding success,” he said.

Loans would also be available to Ukraine, to EU candidate countries and countries with security deals with the EU.

“Bilateral technical agreements with Great Britain and Canada on their participation in SAFE Programme will be negotiated very soon,” he said.

Loans will be approved for spending which supports the European defense industry and promotes joint procurement between states, with a focus on “air/missile defense, ground combat, space, strategic capabilities, cyber and space capabilities,” Kubilius said.

“When I visited Washington D.C. before summer, one well known U.S. expert told me that right now, worldwide, SAFE is the biggest financial package to be invested into defense with such a speed. It is also important that we are sending a strong message of support to the frontier countries, when the US is announcing that they will reduce their support,” he said.

Member states must now submit an investment plan for their loan cash by Nov. 30, with loan agreements due to be signed in the first quarter of 2026 if approved.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.

罗马——波兰计划将欧盟 1500 亿欧元（1760 亿美元）债务基金中的近三分之一用于国防开支，这反映出该国对俄罗斯侵略的担忧。

欧盟国防专员安德留斯·库比留斯表示，布鲁塞尔已根据欧盟安全援助计划向华沙拨款 437 亿欧元用于武器采购。

3 月份设立的“欧洲安全行动 (SAFE)”计划，旨在向欧盟成员国和盟国提供 1500 亿欧元的低成本贷款，以迅速加强防御能力，应对俄罗斯入侵乌克兰以及美国越来越不愿意加强欧洲防御的局面。

周二，库比柳斯表示，1500亿欧元的贷款全部由19个成员国认购，并称该计划是“欧洲的成功故事”。

他说，在波兰之后，罗马尼亚获得了 167 亿欧元的贷款，法国和匈牙利各获得了 162 亿欧元，意大利获得了 149 亿欧元。

比利时将获得 83 亿欧元，立陶宛将获得 64 亿欧元，葡萄牙将获得 58 亿欧元，拉脱维亚将获得 57 亿欧元，其他获得贷款的国家包括保加利亚、克罗地亚、塞浦路斯、捷克、丹麦、爱沙尼亚、芬兰、希腊、斯洛伐克和西班牙。

除了低利率外，这些贷款还提供十年的还款宽限期。

“我还想提醒大家，SAFE计划在今年春季初宣布时，很多人对贷款利率可能很低持怀疑态度。但事实恰恰相反。成员国的积极参与取得了巨大的成功，”他说道。

乌克兰、欧盟候选国以及与欧盟签订安全协议的国家也可以获得贷款。

他说：“我们将很快与英国和加拿大就其参与SAFE计划达成双边技术协议。”

库比柳斯表示，贷款将获批用于支持欧洲国防工业和促进各国之间联合采购的支出，重点是“防空/导弹防御、地面作战、太空、战略能力、网络和太空能力”。

“今年夏天之前我访问华盛顿特区时，一位知名的美国专家告诉我，目前在全球范围内，SAFE是迄今为止规模最大、速度最快的国防投资计划。在美国宣布将减少对前线国家的援助之际，我们向这些国家发出强有力的支持信号也至关重要，”他说道。

成员国现在必须在 11 月 30 日前提交贷款资金的投资计划，如果获得批准，贷款协议将于 2026 年第一季度签署。

汤姆·金顿是《防务新闻》驻意大利记者。