The European Commission has paid almost €13.5bn in pre-financing to 11 member states under Security Action for Europe (SAFE), its €150bn defence loan instrument, after first payments to Belgium and Czechia on 6 October.
Belgium received €1.2bn and Czechia €309m, in each case 15 per cent of their allocations of €8.3bn and €2bn. SAFE lends money raised through EU borrowing, mainly for joint purchases of EU-made ammunition, missiles, air defence and ground combat systems, and further payments follow as agreed milestones are met.
Payouts so far amount to about 9 per cent of the instrument. Poland received the largest, about €6.6bn of its €43.7bn allocation, in May. Romania, Bulgaria and Latvia were paid in late August.
Some governments are taking less than first planned. Hungary cut its request to €5.4bn from €16.4bn, the Commission said in September. On 13 October the Commission approved a revised Italian plan for slightly more than €8bn, against the €14.9bn initially allocated. Italy’s plan still needs approval from EU governments in the Council before a loan agreement can be signed.
Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission’s president, said in her State of the Union address on 16 September that remaining SAFE funds would go to a new programme of joint projects with Ukrainian companies. Andrius Kubilius, the EU’s defence commissioner, has put the unused amount at €10bn to €20bn, according to Ukrainian news agency UNN. A final figure is due after member states report on implementation at the end of October.
