Brussels: Eighteen European Union countries have applied for billions of euros from a new defence fund aimed at helping Europe provide for its own security, the bloc’s executive branch said Wednesday, with Poland seeking more than a third of the money.
The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund is a 150-billion-euro (USD 173 billion) programme of cheap loans that member countries, Ukraine and outsiders with an EU security agreement, like Britain, can use to buy military equipment together.
The fund was launched after the Trump administration signalled that Europe is no longer a US security priority. It’s for buying key equipment like air and missile defence systems, artillery, ammunition, drones and “strategic enablers” like air-to-air refuelling.
The European Commission said that Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Spain had applied for money so far.
They have requested at least 127 billion euros (USD 147 billion) in total, it said.
Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on Tuesday that his government has identified defence projects worth around 45 billion euros (USD 52 billion), but that the amount it receives will depend on how the commission allocates funds.
Countries using the fund are urged to buy much of their military equipment in Europe, working mostly with European suppliers — in some cases with EU help to cut prices and speed up orders.
Earlier this month, 15 EU countries were also permitted to use a “national escape clause” to allow them to spend more on defence without breaking the bloc’s debt rules.
US allies in Europe are convinced that President Vladimir Putin could target one of them if Russia wins its war on Ukraine. The SAFE fund and budget leniency are aimed at preparing Europe to defend itself from attack by the end of the decade, but even EU governments concede that this is an ambitious target.
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