A new poll shows 53% of Poles believe President Karol Nawrocki should sign the EU SAFE defense funding bill.
Poll Results
In a poll conducted for “Fakty TVN” and TVN24, 53% of respondents said President Nawrocki should sign the bill implementing the EU SAFE program. This includes 32% who believe he “definitely should” sign it, and 21% who chose “rather should.” 25% said he “should not” sign the bill, with 17% saying “definitely should not” and 8% saying “rather should not.” 22% found it “difficult to say.”
EU SAFE Program Details
At the end of February, the Sejm passed a law implementing the EU’s SAFE loan program for armaments. It creates a Financial Instrument for Increasing Security managed by the Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego, through which the government can access funds from SAFE. Poland is the largest beneficiary of this EU program – it can obtain approximately 43.7 billion euros, or nearly 200 billion zloty. According to the government, 89% of these funds will go to Polish defense companies.
Polish Government Position
President Nawrocki, together with NBP President Adam Glapinski, proposed an alternative to the EU SAFE program – the “Polish SAFE zero percent” – last week. A draft bill on this matter is already in the Sejm. According to it, revenues from the NBP’s profits, previously paid to the state budget, would be redirected to tasks related to defense, including the purchase of military equipment and defense systems, equipment for formations responsible for state security, and investments in military infrastructure and logistics ensuring military mobility.
Alternative Proposal
The “Polish SAFE zero percent” is presented as an alternative to the EU SAFE program, with the government proposing a domestic solution for defense funding that would redirect central bank profits directly to military modernization efforts.
