Poland is “setting the direction for Europe,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said after Warsaw signed a €43.7 billion EU defense loan.
The loan is part of the EU’s €150 billion SAFE defense financing program offering low-interest loans for military procurement, with a focus on equipment made in Europe.
It was launched to help member states rapidly strengthen their armed forces amid security concerns caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Everywhere we need changes, we implement them and it is Poland today that is actually setting the direction for Europe when it comes to these necessary changes,” Tusk said. “We do this to strengthen Europe, not to weaken it.”
He added that Poland had used its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2025 to push for what he called a deep correction of EU policy, strategy and spending priorities.
“It was Poland that proposed deregulation as the main mechanism to increase Europe’s competitiveness against the world’s largest economic powers. It was Poland that proposed a radical increase in spending, specifically on defense. It was Poland that proposed a deep reform of climate policy,” Tusk said.
‘180 billion zloty safer’
He said Poland had long argued that the EU must take greater responsibility for common security, especially as Europe faces growing risks linked to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“Poland will be safer in these difficult and risky times...180 billion zloty [€43.7 billion] safer,” Tusk said.
He added that Poland values its NATO allies but must also be able to defend itself, its partners and Europe.
Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, who signed the agreement along with Finance Minister Andrzej Domański, described SAFE as a historic achievement for Poland and the first EU defense initiative of its kind.
He added that the loans were beyond party divisions and a matter of national interest.
Kosiniak-Kamysz’s statement was an apparent reference to a rival defense funding plan proposed by the conservative, opposition-backed president, Karol Nawrocki.
‘Defending our territory’
“We’re defending everything that is important to us,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said after the signing. “We’re defending our families, we’re defending our territory, every centimeter of our beloved homeland, and a united Europe.”
Domański said the program was about more than just defense, and that it also provided an economic stimulus and would create jobs.
“There is no more effective source of financing the huge undertaking of modernizing the army than the SAFE program,” he said.
The finance minister added that the Polish defense sector would benefit from the money and that the defense industry would become a key economic driver for Poland for decades to come.