Brussels – The EU Council adopted implementing decisions making financial assistance under SAFE, the 150 billion euro defense industry program, available to France and the Czech Republic. With today’s (10 April) approval, Paris will receive loans of around 15.09 billion euros (including pre-financing of around 2.26 billion euros), while Prague will be granted 2.06 billion euros (including pre-financing of 309 million euros).
The loans granted to France and the Czech Republic bring the total number of EU Member States to have benefited from the SAFE program to 18. A first group of countries received approval on 16 January (payments made on 11 February), while a second group received the same approval on 26 January (payments made on 17 February).
Vasilis Palmas, Defense Minister of Cyprus, the country with the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, expressed satisfaction. “Strengthening the Union’s defense readiness and strategic autonomy, by reducing dependencies and enhancing the EU’s capacity to respond effectively and proactively, is a Cyprus Presidency key priority,” he said.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
