Release date
Eight European Union member states on Thursday laid out plans to use allocations from the EU’s new 150 billion euro defense loan for defense projects approved by the European Commission.
Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus, Portugal and Romania are set to benefit from the first wave of financial support under the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative after the European Commission submitted a proposal to the Council for formal approval.
“There is an urgent need for the board to approve these plans to enable rapid disbursement,” Chair Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.
19 member states In total, they have already applied for access to SAFE, with funding provisionally agreed in September last year.
The eight countries, whose plans have just been approved by the EU Executive, are expected to have access to a total of around €38 billion once financing agreements are signed. Denmark is expected to receive at least 46 million euros, the least of all applicants, while Cyprus and Spain will receive around 1 billion euros each, Belgium 8.3 billion euros and Romania 16.68 billion euros.
SAFE is part of the European Commission’s Readiness 2030 plan, which aims to spend up to €800 billion on defense by the end of the 2030s and aims to accelerate the procurement of priority defense products.
These include ammunition and missiles, artillery systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and anti-drone systems, as well as air and missile defense systems, critical infrastructure protection, space asset protection, cybersecurity, AI technology, and electronic warfare systems.
Another important criterion of this scheme is that the equipment purchased is of European origin, with no more than 35% of the component cost coming from outside the EU, EEA-EFTA or Ukraine. Canada, which has bilateral agreements with the bloc, will be able to participate on an equal basis with those countries.
This system is advantageous for member states whose credit ratings are not as good as the European Commission’s, meaning they can secure better interest rates. Germany, for example, did not request any SAFE funds.
Following the announcement, European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Cubilius said there was “no time to waste” and that “next steps” included approving the remaining 11 national plans and disbursing the first envelope of 15% of the funding.
EU ministers now have four weeks to approve the plan, with the first payments due in March 2026.
Von der Leyen said late last year that the scheme’s popularity among member states – it was oversubscribed, with 19 participating countries initially requesting more than 150 billion euros – meant it could be expanded further.
