Credit: saexpeditions.com
Croatia received €255 million ($292 million) on Friday as its first payment under the European Commission’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence instrument, the Commission said.
“The pre-financing will allow Croatia to fast-track key defence projects, reinforce its resilience, and upgrade its military capabilities in support of common European objectives,” the Commission said in a press release, News.Az reports, citing Seenews.
The payment represents 15% of Croatia’s total allocation of 1.7 billion euro under SAFE.
SAFE is a 150 billion euro financial instrument providing loans to member states. It primarily funds joint procurement of ammunition, missiles, air defence, and ground combat systems produced within the EU.
It is part of the European Commission’s ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030 plan, which aims to unlock over 800 billion euro in defence investment across the European Union.
“By accelerating key defence investments, Croatia will reinforce its resilience, modernise its armed forces, enhance its defence capabilities in the Mediterranean region, and strengthen its contribution to our collective defence,” Andrius Kubilius, commissioner for defence and space, said.
The SAFE instrument is financed by EU borrowing on the financial markets. This enables competitively priced and attractively structured long-duration loans to requesting countries.