EU Allocates Poland €44 Billion. For Another "Wall" on the Border with Belarus?
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that his country will receive approximately €44 billion from the European Union’s SAFE program. The plans of the country bordering Belarus include the purchase of UAVs for the “Eastern Shield” on the border with Belarus and the creation, as part of it, of a “Drone Wall”.
However, the EU funds will also go towards other defense programs and will be provided as preferential loans.
«Nothing is given for free, but these are very privileged loans. Poland has become the largest beneficiary of this project. Nearly €44 billion will be allocated for the purchase of unmanned equipment for the ‘Eastern Shield.’ This was the result of our diplomacy’s efforts over many weeks and months, and finally, we achieved unconditional recognition from all of Europe that the ‘Eastern Shield’ is a shared responsibility of the entire European Union, and Europe has started to treat it as a place where we invest European money, not just Polish,» stated the Polish Prime Minister.
According to Donald Tusk, the European funding will also be distributed among the development of space projects, the development of artificial intelligence for defense, cyber and crypto security, as well as the equipping of the army, border guards, and police.
The SAFE program is an EU rearmament program based on preferential loans totaling €150 billion.
The largest share of this amount—€43.7 billion—is allocated to Poland. The loans under this program, provided to EU countries and raised by the European Commission, will be guaranteed by the EU budget. The raised funds can be used for both the purchase of military equipment and ammunition. The Polish government is expected to soon authorize the Minister of Defense to apply for funding under this program.
The «Drone Wall» is a project promoted by the Baltic states and Poland to strengthen air defense security systems on the border with Belarus and Russia. Its goal is to create a line that unmanned aerial vehicles cannot penetrate. Other EU countries have not yet approved a union-wide program, but Lithuania and Poland have stated they will act independently.
Poland plans to commission the «Drone Wall» by the end of 2027.
Recall that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, at a CSTO meeting in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), accused EU countries of threatening security and preparing for war with Belarus and Russia. He also named artificial intelligence as one of the threats.