{"id":821635,"date":"2026-03-12T22:17:25","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T22:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/821635\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T22:17:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T22:17:25","slug":"polish-president-nawrocki-vetoes-law-unlocking-e44bn-in-eu-defence-loans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/821635\/","title":{"rendered":"Polish president Nawrocki vetoes law unlocking \u20ac44bn in EU defence loans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  By&amp;nbsp<b>Anna Weglarczyk<\/b>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n         Published on<br \/>\n            12\/03\/2026 &#8211; 22:40 GMT+1\n            <\/p>\n<p>Poland\u2019s president, Karol Nawrocki, has vetoed legislation that would have enabled the country to access nearly \u20ac44 billion in European Union defence loans, escalating a political clash with the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk over how to finance the country\u2019s defence spending.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-ad__placeholder__logo\" src=\"https:\/\/static.euronews.com\/website\/images\/logos\/logo-euronews-stacked-outlined-72x72-grey-9.svg\" width=\"72\" height=\"72\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><br \/>\n          ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>The bill would have allowed Warsaw to access funds from the EU\u2019s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program, a \u20ac150 billion initiative aimed at boosting defence spending and strengthening Europe\u2019s defence industry.<\/p>\n<p>Poland was set to receive around \u20ac43.7 billion in loans under the scheme, making it the largest potential beneficiary.<\/p>\n<p>Government backed EU loans to speed up military investment<\/p>\n<p>Tusk\u2019s pro-EU coalition had strongly supported the legislation, arguing that the loans would provide favourable financing to accelerate Poland\u2019s military modernisation at a time of heightened security concerns following Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>Officials said the funding could support a wide range of defense projects, including strengthening the country\u2019s eastern border and investing in domestic arms production.<\/p>\n<p>But Nawrocki, who is aligned with the conservative opposition argued that relying on EU loans could increase Poland\u2019s dependence on Brussels. Instead, he has proposed using domestic resources to finance defence investments, including profits from the country\u2019s central bank reserves.<\/p>\n<p>Tusk denounces Nawrocki\u2019s patriotism over veto<\/p>\n<p>The decision triggered swift criticism from members of the government. In a post on X, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote: \u201cThe President lost his chance to act like a patriot,\u201d referring to what he described as a missed opportunity to secure EU financing for defence investment. He also announced a special cabinet meeting on Friday morning when he\u2019ll introduce alternative steps to approve the loan. Tusk earlier said that his government is preparing a &#8220;plan B&#8221; that would still allow Poland to access SAFE funds.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Minister Rados\u0142aw Sikorski also criticised the move on social media, warning that blocking access to the EU mechanism could weaken Poland\u2019s ability to strengthen its defence capabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Defence Minister W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz defended the government\u2019s proposal, arguing that the EU loans would allow Poland to expand military spending without placing additional strain on the national budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By&amp;nbspAnna Weglarczyk Published on 12\/03\/2026 &#8211; 22:40 GMT+1 Poland\u2019s president, Karol Nawrocki, has vetoed legislation that would have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":821636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2993,2000,299,5187,1699,51030,41512,770],"class_list":["post-821635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-defence","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-karol-nawrocki","tag-loan","tag-poland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116218524654816089","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/821636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}