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Eight European Union member states on Thursday had their plans to use their allocation from the bloc’s new €150 billion loan for defence scheme approved by the European Commission.
Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal and Romania are set to benefit from the first wave of financial assistance under the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, after the Commission submitted a proposal to the Council for formal approval.
“It is now urgent for the Council to approve these plans to allow fast disbursement,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
Nineteen member states in total have already applied to tap into SAFE, with funding allocations provisionally agreed last September.
The eight countries whose plans were just approved by the EU’s executive are expected to collectively access around €38 billion once loan agreements are signed. Denmark has asked for over €46 million in funding, the lowest of all the applicants, whereas Cyprus and Spain are each set to receive roughly €1 billion, Belgium €8.3 billion, and Romania €16.68 billion.
SAFE, which is part of the Commission’s Readiness 2030 plan to unleash up to €800 billion into defence before the end of the decade, is meant to boost the procurement of priority defence products.
These include ammunition and missiles, artillery systems, drones and anti-drone systems as well as air and missile defence systems, critical infrastructure protection, space asset protection, cybersecurity, AI technology and electronic warfare systems.
Another important criterion of the scheme is that the equipment purchased must be European-made, with no more than 35% of component costs originating from outside the EU, EEA-EFTA, or Ukraine. Canada, which has secured a bilateral agreement with the bloc, will also be able to participate to the same level as those countries.
The scheme is advantageous to member states whose credit rating is not as good as the Commission’s, meaning they will secure better rates. Germany, for instance, did not ask for any SAFE funds.
European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said following the announcement that there is “no time to waste” and that the “next steps” include the approval of the remaining 11 national plans and the disbursement of a first envelope of 15% of the funding.
EU ministers now have four weeks to approve the plans, with first payments expected in March 2026.
Von der Leyen said late last year that the popularity of the scheme among member states – it was oversubscribed, with the 19 participating countries initially asking for more than €150 billion – could see it expanded further.
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