go to the original language article
The European Commission will approve, on Wednesday, the plan for Portugal to access 5.8 billion euros in loans on favorable terms to invest in defense capabilities.
“We proposed SAFE [Security Action for Europe Instrument], our joint procurement initiative, less than a year ago, and […] we now have the Member States’ plans. We plan to approve half of them already this week,” announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in statements to a small group of journalists in Brussels, including Lusa.
European sources told Lusa that eight countries, out of 18 applicants, are involved, whose plans should get the ‘green light’ next Wednesday, namely Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain and Croatia.
SAFE, which was proposed last March by the European Commission, will grant up to 150 billion euros in long-term loans at favorable rates to EU Member States for investments in defense capabilities.
These loans, which must be used by 2030, will finance urgent and large-scale procurement efforts.
Portugal was allocated 5.8 billion euros, for which the country applied last November with a plan to re-equip the armed forces.
“All this in less than a year since the [SAFE] proposal, an impressive speed and a real success,” noted Ursula von der Leyen.
According to the official, “last year [2025] was historic for European defense,” since “more funding was allocated to defense in a single year than in the previous ten” and progress was faster.
In these statements, the head of the EU executive also addressed the war in Ukraine caused by the Russian invasion, which will enter its fourth year next February, pointing out that “the first line of defense will be and is made up of the armed forces of Ukraine, well trained, with combat experience and well equipped” and the second concerns the support of allies within the framework of the Coalition of goodwill on Ukraine.
“Here it is very positive that the Americans are involved, namely in verification and monitoring, but also as a safeguard. At this moment, the security guarantees on the table are substantial, solid and well defined,” she added.
For Ursula von der Leyen, “the peace plan and the security guarantees are the result of difficult negotiations and a lot of work by the Ukrainians, the United States, Europe and the Coalition of goodwill, and it is now up to Russia to show that it is interested in peace.”