EU allocates €150B defense fund among member states

By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Commission announced the preliminary allocation of a €150 billion ($175.6 billion) defense fund under its new Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, which is designed to strengthen defense readiness across the bloc.

According to the Commission, the funding will be distributed among 19 member states that requested support, based on a pre-allocation system. The final amounts will depend on each country's defense projects and preparedness levels.

Poland is set to receive the largest share with €43.7 billion. It is followed by Romania (€16.68 billion), France and Hungary (€16.21 billion each), Italy (€14.9 billion), Belgium (€8.34 billion), Lithuania (€6.37 billion), Portugal (€5.84 billion) and Latvia (€5.68 billion).

Other allocations include Bulgaria (€3.26 billion), Estonia (€2.66 billion), Slovakia (€2.31 billion), Czech Republic (€2.06 billion), Croatia (€1.7 billion), the Greek Cypriot Administration (€1.18 billion), Spain and Finland (€1 billion each), Greece (€787 million) and Denmark (€46.7 million).

SAFE, adopted by EU leaders in May, will provide competitively priced, long-term loans to accelerate urgent defense procurement.

It forms part of the European Commission's ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, aiming to mobilize over €800 billion in defense spending.

While the loans will be available only to EU member states, Ukraine and EEA-EFTA countries will also be eligible to participate in joint procurement under the scheme.