EU members eye €127 billion in loans for defense procurement

PARIS — European Union member states expressed interest in at least €127 billion ($146 billion) in EU-backed loans to pay for defense procurement, the bloc’s executive arm said on Wednesday.

Eighteen countries including Italy, Poland, Spain and France expressed interest in accessing the loans under the Security Action for Europe financial instrument, or SAFE, the European Commission said in a statement .

SAFE is part of EU plans to ramp up defense investment announced in March, and will provide up to €150 billion in “competitively priced,” long-maturity loans to EU countries that ask for financial assistance to invest in defense capabilities, according to the Commission.

“Delighted to see big interest of EU member states in SAFE loans,” EU Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said in a social media post . “This is a major step towards achieving our defense goals quickly and decisively.”

The Commission said the early indication of interest will allow it to assess demand and prepare for raising funds on the capital markets. The deadline for formal submission of requests and the submission of national defense investment plans is end-November.

The loans seek to finance “urgent and large-scale procurement efforts,” according to the Commission. Projects will be based on common procurement, involving at least one member state that benefits from SAFE, together with another member state, Ukraine or the EEA-EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

“However, in light of current geopolitical realities, SAFE will also temporarily support procurements by individual member states to ensure timely delivery of critical assets,” the commission said.

Only EU countries can obtain SAFE loans, though countries that have signed security and defense partnerships with the EU can participate in common procurement, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada, South Korea and Japan.

Under the eligibility conditions for SAFE loans, procurement contracts have to ensure that no more than 35% of component costs comes from outside the EU, Ukraine or EEA-EFTA countries.

For equipment including air and missile defense systems, maritime surface and underwater capabilities and strategic enablers such as air-to-air refueling, eligibility conditions for procurement contracts are more strict, including the ability for contractors to modify the equipment if necessary, without any non-EU restrictions.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——欧盟执行机构周三表示，欧盟成员国对至少1270亿欧元（1460亿美元）的欧盟担保贷款表示有兴趣，用于支付国防采购费用。

欧盟委员会在一份声明中表示，包括意大利、波兰、西班牙和法国在内的18个国家表示有兴趣根据“欧洲安全行动”金融工具（SAFE）获得贷款。

SAFE是欧盟3月份宣布的加大国防投资计划的一部分，根据欧盟委员会的说法，该计划将向寻求财政援助以投资国防能力的欧盟国家提供高达1500亿欧元的“价格具有竞争力”的长期贷款。

欧盟国防与航天事务专员安德留斯·库比柳斯在社交媒体上发文称：“很高兴看到欧盟成员国对SAFE贷款表现出浓厚的兴趣。这是朝着迅速而果断地实现我们的国防目标迈出的重要一步。”

委员会表示，提前表达的兴趣将有助于其评估需求并为在资本市场筹集资金做好准备。正式提交申请和国防投资计划的截止日期为11月底。

欧盟委员会表示，这些贷款旨在为“紧急和大规模采购工作”提供资金。项目将基于联合采购模式，至少涉及一个受益于“安全、公平和包容性框架”（SAFE）的成员国，以及另一个成员国、乌克兰或欧洲经济区/欧洲自由贸易联盟成员国冰岛、列支敦士登和挪威。

“然而，鉴于当前的地缘政治现实，SAFE还将暂时支持各个成员国的采购，以确保关键资产的及时交付，”委员会表示。

只有欧盟国家才能获得 SAFE 贷款，但与欧盟签署了安全和防务伙伴关系协议的国家可以参与共同采购，包括英国、挪威、加拿大、韩国和日本。

根据 SAFE 贷款的资格条件，采购合同必须确保组件成本中来自欧盟、乌克兰或欧洲经济区-欧洲自由贸易联盟国家以外的部分不超过 35%。

对于包括防空和导弹防御系统、海上水面和水下能力以及空中加油等战略赋能设备在内的装备，采购合同的资格条件更加严格，包括允许承包商在必要时修改设备，而不受任何非欧盟限制。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。