On May 8th, the Polish government was set to sign the SAFE defence procurement loan agreement with the European Commission in Warsaw. It was going to do so despite President Nawrocki’s veto of the law that would have greenlit such a large long-term commitment for Poland, as required by the country’s Constitution. Although the economic structure of the loan may constitute an argument for using it, the legal and political risks associated with the conditionality mechanism disqualify a sovereign state from having a positive attitude towards such a proposal.
On the one hand, the European Commission will not lose such an opportunity to make Poland dependent on its goodwill in the next crucial field of defence procurement. But on the other hand, the government of Donald Tusk is desperate to secure the money so that it can reallocate the sums that would otherwise finance Poland’s defence, which now amount to nearly five per cent of the country’s GDP each year, in the year of the parliamentary elections. And it is no wonder that Tusk is so desperate that he is willing to trample on the law and the Constitution for this money, which will help him maintain power.
In 2025, Poland’s budget deficit amounted to 7.3 per cent of GDP, placing it second in the unenviable European Union ranking, right behind Romania.
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Read the full article on Brussels Signal.
Source of cover photo: iStock
