Poland Secures €43.7 bn as Largest Beneficiary of EU's SAFE Defense Fund

The European Union's Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme allocates €150 billion to fund defence‑related investments across member states. Poland has been granted the right to draw up to €43.734 billion – roughly 29 % of the total pool – making it the programme's biggest beneficiary.

The first tranche of €6.56 billion was disbursed at the end of May, with the remaining funds to be released gradually as Poland implements its defence procurement plan. Loans can be repaid over a maximum of 45 years and include a ten‑year grace period on capital repayment. Credit Agricole analysts estimate that SAFE‑linked spending will peak at about 42 billion PLN in 2026 and then decline to around 15 billion PLN in 2027.

According to the same analysis, the influx of defence orders is expected to raise industrial production growth by roughly 1.6 percentage points in the second to fourth quarters of 2026 and to lift the annual GDP growth rate by about 0.3 percentage points that year, compared with a scenario without the programme.