A total of 691 defence-related projects have been submitted under 19 national plans to the European Commission as part of the EU’s SAFE defence financing mechanism, with 65% of them linked to joint procurement, according to Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier.
Speaking to journalists, Regnier stressed that the SAFE regulation allows purely national projects only in “very exceptional cases”, yet 35% of the submitted proposals currently relate to national procurement requests.
“We were extremely clear from the outset that SAFE is designed for joint procurement with our member states,” Regnier said. “The evaluation process will continue, and we will ensure that joint procurement exceeds 65%.”
He added that the Commission’s goal is to guarantee compliance with the eligibility criteria set out in the regulation, underlining that SAFE exists primarily to strengthen collective European defence procurement.
What the national plans include
Based on an initial assessment of the 19 national submissions, the Commission outlined the following funding requests:
- Around €50bn has been requested for air and missile defence systems, ammunition and missiles.
- Approximately €6bn is earmarked for drones and counter-drone systems.
- A further €13bn concerns naval defence projects.
“These figures cover the four flagship projects presented in our roadmap,” Regnier said, adding that 15 of the national plans also include support for Ukraine.
Loan approvals across the EU
From the total €150bn available through SAFE, the European Commission has approved €787.7m in loans for Greece.
The largest allocation has gone to Poland, with approved loans amounting to €43.73bn. This is followed by Romania (€16.7bn), France and Hungary (€16.2bn each), Italy (€14.9bn), Belgium (€8.34bn), Lithuania (€6.37bn) and Latvia (€5.68bn).
For Cyprus, the Commission has approved €1.18bn in SAFE loans. Some member states, including Germany, have chosen not to request SAFE loans, citing their ability to secure financing at favourable interest rates directly from financial markets.
Sources: POLITICO Europe, Reuters