SAFE provides low-interest, long-term loans with a 10-year grace period for principal repayments, raised by Brussels on capital markets and offering significant savings compared to national borrowing.
Those terms are crucial for Poland, which plans to devote 4.8 percent of its GDP to defense this year, one of the highest levels in NATO. The country’s public finances are under pressure due to its long-term effort to build up its military to deter Russia and support Ukraine.
But Nawrocki is wary, and his advisers warn SAFE is aimed at helping Germany rather than Poland — an appeal to Nawrocki’s core voters who are suspicious of Berlin.
Poles deserve clarity on costs, conditions and any political strings attached to SAFE, Nawrocki said during a Wednesday meeting of Poland’s National Security Council, which he chairs.
“Although SAFE formally operates as a loan mechanism, the indirect risk cannot be ignored — namely that disbursements could be linked to broader political conditionality,” the president said. “The final decision on payments and the terms attached to them will rest with the European Commission.”
Nawrocki also pressed the government to publish the list of all 139 planned projects to be financed from SAFE and questioned whether the program could ultimately favor West European defense companies rather than Polish ones.