Em cause there are eight countriesof 18 candidates, whose plans should have the ‘green light’ next Wednesday, namely Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain and Croatia.
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 the SAFE [Instrumento de Ação para a Segurança da Europa]our joint procurement initiative, less than a year ago, and […] We now have the Member States’ plans. We plan to approve half of them 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 thate involved are eight countriesof 18 candidates, whose plans should have the ‘green light’ next Wednesday, namely Portugal, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain and Croatia.
SAFE, which was proposed in March last year by the European Commission, will grant until 150 billion euros in long-term loans and at favorable prices to EU Member States for investments in defense capabilities.
These loans, which have to be executed until 2030will finance urgent and large-scale acquisition efforts.
5.8 billion euros were allocated to Portugal, to which the country competed last November with a plan to retool the armed forces.
“All this in less than a year since the proposal [do SAFE]impressive speed and a real success”, noted Ursula von der Leyen.
According to the person responsible, “last year [de 2025] was historic for European defense”, as “more funding was allocated to defense in a single year than in the previous ten” and progress was made more quickly.
War in Ukraine
In these statements, the leader of the community executive also addressed the which enters its fourth year next February, pointing out that “the first line of defense will be and is constituted by the armed forces of Ukrainewell trained, with combat experience and well equipped” and the second concerns the support of allies within 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”, he added.
For Ursula von der Leyen, “the peace plan and security guarantees are the result of difficult negotiations and a lot of work on the part of the Ukrainians, the United States, Europe and the Coalition” of good will, and it is now up to Russia “to show that it is interested in peace”.
