EU members eye €127 billion in loans for defense procurement
PARIS – The Member States of the European Union have expressed their interest in at least 127 billion euros ($ 146 billion) in EU -supported loans to pay for defense purchases, the executive branch of the block announced on Wednesday.
Eighteen countries, including Italy, Poland, Spain and France statement.
Safe is part of The EU plans to strengthen defense investment Announced in March, and will grant up to 150 billion euros in “competitive prices”, long -term loans to EU countries which require financial assistance to invest in defense capacities, according to the Commission.
“Delighted to see a great interest in EU member states in safe loans,” said EU Defense and Espace Andrius Kubilius Commissioner Social media message. “This is a major step towards achieving our defense objectives quickly and decisively.”
The Commission said that the early indication of interests will allow it to assess the request and prepare for the collection of funds on the capital markets. The deadline for official requests for requests and the submission of national defense investment plans are final.
The loans aim to finance “urgent and large -scale purchase efforts”, according to the Commission. The projects will be based on common purchases, involving at least one Member State which benefits from a safe, as well as another Member State, Ukraine or the EEA-Efta countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
“However, in the light of current geopolitical realities, security will also temporarily support public procurement by the Member States to guarantee the timely delivery of critical assets,” said the Commission.
Only EU countries can obtain safe loans, although countries that have signed security and defense partnerships with the EU can participate in common purchases, including the United Kingdom, Norway, South Korea and Japan.
Under the conditions of eligibility for safe loans, supply contracts must ensure that no more than 35% of the costs of the components come from the outside of the EU, Ukraine or EAE-Efta countries.
For equipment, including air and anti-missile defense systems, maritime surface and submarine capacities and strategic catalysts such as air supply, eligibility conditions for supply contracts are more strict, including the possibility for entrepreneurs to modify the equipment if necessary, without any non-UN restriction.
