Polish president rejects $50 billion in European military loans

WARSAW, Poland — Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced he will veto a bill to implement the European Union’s Security Action For Europe (SAFE) scheme which foresees around €43.7 billion ($50.3 billion) in low-cost loans for Poland’s military.

The development represents the latest tit-for-tat move in right-wing Nawrocki’s ongoing row with the centrist government that says it will absorb the loans for defense acquisitions anyway.

In a televised speech aired on March 12, the president said legislation passed by the Polish parliament about utilizing the loan “threatens our sovereignty, independence, or economic and military security.”

“SAFE is a mechanism through which Brussels can withhold funding at will, based on the so–called principle of conditionality, and our country will still have to pay this debt,” Nawrocki said.

Polish President Karol Nawrocki speaks to reporters at the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, Poland, on March 10, 2026. (Omar Marques/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government has championed the loan program, has stated that more than 80% of the funds will be injected into Poland’s defense industry. Focus is to be placed on acquisitions of innovative gear such as unmanned technologies, anti-drone systems, satellites and cyber warfare equipment.

In anticipation of Nawrocki’s veto, Polish government officials have signaled the president’s opposition to SAFE could be overridden by incorporating the loans into an existing fund that is currently used to finance military acquisitions. As the ruling coalition does not have the necessary majority in the parliament to reject the veto, the Cabinet will need to use alternative means to tap into the loans.

“It’s a bad and dangerous decision,” Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the deputy prime minister and national defense minister, replied in a video posted on his social media profiles. “The point of the SAFE program is to modernize the Polish military whose procurement needs, equipment needs have been identified by the leading experts from the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces.”

Jaroslaw Adamowski is the Poland correspondent for Defense News.

波兰华沙——波兰总统卡罗尔·纳沃茨基宣布，他将否决一项旨在实施欧盟“欧洲安全行动”（SAFE）计划的法案，该计划预计将向波兰军方提供约 437 亿欧元（503 亿美元）的低成本贷款。

这一事态发展代表了右翼领导人纳沃茨基与中间派政府之间持续不断的针锋相对的最新举措，中间派政府表示无论如何都会承担国防采购贷款。

在 3 月 12 日播出的电视讲话中，总统表示，波兰议会通过的关于使用贷款的立法“威胁到我们的主权、独立或经济和军事安全”。

“SAFE 机制允许布鲁塞尔根据所谓的附加条件原则随意扣留资金，而我国仍然必须偿还这笔债务，”纳沃茨基说。

2026年3月10日，波兰总统卡罗尔·纳沃茨基在波兰华沙总统府向记者发表讲话。（图片来源：Omar Marques/Anadolu via Getty Images）

波兰总理唐纳德·图斯克领导的政府大力支持这项贷款计划。图斯克总理表示，超过80%的资金将注入波兰国防工业，重点用于采购无人机技术、反无人机系统、卫星和网络战设备等创新装备。

鉴于纳沃茨基总统可能否决该法案，波兰政府官员已表示，可以通过将贷款纳入目前用于军事采购的现有基金，来推翻总统对SAFE计划的反对。由于执政联盟在议会中没有足够的多数席位来推翻总统的否决，内阁需要另辟蹊径来动用这些贷款。

“这是一个糟糕且危险的决定，”副总理兼国防部长瓦迪斯瓦夫·科西尼亚克-卡梅什在其社交媒体账号上发布的视频中回应道。“SAFE计划的目的是实现波兰军队的现代化，其采购需求和装备需求已由波兰武装部队总参谋部的顶尖专家确定。”

Jaroslaw Adamowski 是《防务新闻》驻波兰记者。