President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, has called today for the rapid approval by the Council of the European Union (EU) of Portugal’s plan for €5.8 billion in defence loans.
“The plans of eight Member States (Portugal and seven others) were approved yesterday (Wednesday) at the meeting of the College of Commissioners, and it is now urgent that the Council approve these plans to allow the allocation of funds,” said Ms von der Leyen said at a press conference in the Cypriot city of Limassol, as part of the College of Commissioners’ trip to Cyprus, which holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union this semester.
On Wednesday, the European Commission approved the plan for Portugal to access €5.8 billion in loans on favourable terms to invest in defence capabilities, making it one of eight countries with preliminary approval (along with Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Spain and Croatia) under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument.
“Last year, at European level, we made more investments in defence than in previous decades (…) and that includes the €150 billion from the SAFE programme,” Ursula von der Leyen said today.
Last weekend, speaking to a small group of journalists in Brussels, including Lusa, the head of the EU executive pointed out that this week “half of the plans” would be approved, after SAFE was proposed “less than a year ago”.
European sources indicated that the Portuguese plan and seven others were involved.
SAFE, proposed by the European Commission in March last year, will grant EU Member States up to €150 billion in long-term loans at favourable rates for investments in defence capabilities.
These loans – which must be executed by 2030 – will finance urgent and large-scale procurement efforts.
Portugal has been allocated €5.8 billion, for which the country applied last November with a plan to re-equip its armed forces.
With the European Commission’s assessment now complete, the EU Council has four weeks to adopt the implementation decisions and, once approved, the EU government will finalise the loan agreements.
The first payments are scheduled for March.
Cyprus has assumed the rotating six-month presidency of the EU from the beginning of January to the end of June.
The Republic of Cyprus, which joined the EU in 2004, is taking over the Council presidency for the second time, 14 years after its first presidency in 2012.
It succeeds Denmark and will be followed in the second half of this year by Ireland.
Source: LUSA
