Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said his government will go ahead with borrowing money under the European Union’s SAFE (Security Action for Europe).
That, he said, would be regardless of whether the opposition Conservatives (PiS)-aligned President Karol Nawrocki signs legislation designed to stop such a move.
Tusk told reporters yesterday: “We will find ways anyway, even if they block it or veto it. We will find ways to at least save part of these funds. But it will cost time and it will also cost some necessary money and nerves.”
Sources close to the government have briefed the media that should Nawrocki veto a bill currently going through parliament, the government would adopt a resolution and a regulation that would by-pass the need for legislation for the money to be taken up and used.
The Polish Government has said more than 80 per cent of the funds would be spent within Poland’s defence industry and it is keen to process the loan agreement so that the first tranche of 15 per cent of the total available to Poland could be disbursed come the spring.
Opposition lawmakers have criticised the transparency of the funding and argued the mechanism could be used in the future as political leverage against Poland, citing previous disputes over EU pandemic recovery funds.
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński said on February 16 that Nawrocki should veto the bill, arguing that SAFE has “powerful political implications” and is aimed at uniting Europe “under German leadership” and moving it away from the US.
EU member states at a meeting of finance ministers in Brussels yesterday approved the €44 billion worth Poland’s investment plan under the SAFE defence programme, which consists of 139 projects, the details of which remain confidential.
The SAFE programme provides up to €150 billion in low-interest loans for military procurement, largely focused on equipment produced in Europe and is intended to strengthen EU defence capabilities and reduce reliance on US-made weapons.
Although it is a loan-based programme it operates as an instrument regulated by EU law and is subject to the conditionality mechanism under which the European Commission may withhold the funds if member states fail to meet their obligations.
SAFE funds have now been made available to Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Croatia, Portugal and Romania. Three other countries, the Czech Republic, France and Hungary, are still awaiting approval.
Tusk accused Poland’s opposition parties, the PiS and the Confederation Party, of undermining national interests by opposing the SAFE programme.
“Think about whether you really want to strike at the very heart of Poland at a time when there is such a cruel war beyond our borders,” Tusk said ahead of a cabinet meeting, referring to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“No one will forgive you for this,” he said and argued that the interest rates (three per cent) offered under the SAFE loans compare well with the financing that was secured by the last PiS government to purchase South Korean tanks, weapons and aircraft (6.5 per cent).
Nawrocki shares PiS concerns about SAFE but his aides have been involved in negotiations with the government’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz who, like the Polish head of state, has a good relationship with the administration of US President Donald Trump.
Nawrocki’s aides and PiS politicians in unattributable briefings admit they are in a political bind over SAFE because it offers low interest loans for defence spending to which Poland has committed itself. The country already has the third-largest land forces in NATO and is the highest per capita spender on defence within the alliance.
Tusk’s stance of saying that the government will pursue the SAFE loan regardless of Nawrocki and the opposition’s disapproval and without legislation has simply ratcheted up the political pressure over the issue still further.
