France and the European Commission signed this Wednesday a loan agreement of 15.1 billion euros in favor of Paris to finance joint arms purchases, as part of the European Safe program to support rearmament in Europe. The agreement was formalized during a ceremony on the sidelines of the Eurosatory defense exhibition, near Paris, by the French Ministers of the Economy and the Armed Forces, Roland Lescure and Catherine Vautrin, and the European Commissioners for the Budget and the Defense, Piotr Serafin and Andrius Kubilius.
For the European Budget Commissioner, it is “an important step in the construction of a Europe capable of taking greater responsibility for its destiny”. “Four years ago, the idea of a common European financial effort for the field of defense remained largely in the minority. In practice, it was mainly carried by France. Today, this vision has become a European political reality,” he said.
15.1 billion, for 29 projects
The 15.1 billion euros loan allocated to France will make it possible to finance 29 projects of the Ministry of the Armed Forces and six others in the field of research and space, said Catherine Vautrin. “This money will be used to create growth and value in our territories,” she said, recalling that the defense industry represented 240,000 jobs in France. The Safe (Security Action for Europe) instrument aims to help EU member states rapidly increase their defense investments through joint procurement.
For France, the acquisitions of Mistral anti-aircraft missiles, MMP anti-tank missiles and even GlobalEye radar surveillance aircraft from Sweden are intended to benefit from this. The program has a total of 150 billion euros, allocated to 19 EU countries, interested in favorable repayment conditions. The main borrowing country is Poland (43.7 billion), followed by Romania (16.7) and France. To be eligible, a joint purchase between countries must involve products where at least 65% of the component costs come from EU countries, Ukraine, Norway or Canada
