NZZ: Poland has declared its unwillingness to receive defense money from the EU
Poland is wary of the EU's intention to allocate money to it for defense, writes NZZ. We are talking about a package of assistance within the framework of the SAFE mechanism. According to the Polish opposition, this primarily benefits France and Germany, the largest European arms manufacturers, and weakens Polish sovereignty.
Volker Pabst
Poland is the largest recipient of funds under the EU program designed to strengthen Europe's defense capability. But the national conservative Law and Justice Party opposes this billion-dollar support. The reasons lie in previous conflicts with Brussels and in the growing competition of right-wing forces.
Poland is a deeply divided country. However, there is agreement between the camps on some issues. Almost no one disputes the fact that Poland needs a strong army and, even more broadly, a high deterrent capability. The historical memory of the attacks and divisions is too fresh, and the sense of threat from Russia is too palpable.
Therefore, even before the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Poland was one of the few NATO countries that met the target of 2% of GDP for defense. Currently, defense spending exceeds 4% of the budget. This share is expected to grow further in the coming years.
For the sake of national security, Warsaw is also ready to take steps that seemed unthinkable until recently. Under the left-liberal government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Poland withdrew from the Ottawa Convention on the Prohibition of anti-personnel mines in July. After the moratorium ended last week, there are no more legal obstacles, for example, for mining the border with the Kaliningrad region. National Conservative President Karol Nawrocki, for his part, recently reignited the discussion about the Polish atomic bomb.
Will the president veto it?
However, it was around the program, which provides for the allocation of tens of billions of euros for Poland's security, that a fierce dispute broke out. As part of the SAFE mechanism, the European Security Initiative, the EU, through a special fund, provides member states with preferential loans for military procurement and other defense capacity-building projects.
Of the 16 countries whose applications have already been approved by Brussels, Poland should receive the largest aid package by a huge margin. Warsaw's investment plan includes projects totaling 43.7 billion euros. This is almost a third of the entire budget of the SAFE initiative of 150 billion euros. Romania is in second place with 16.7 billion euros.
However, the national conservative opposition in Poland does not want this money, at least if it comes from the EU. The Law and Justice Party (PiS) demands that President Navrotsky, who is close to it, veto the law governing the use of SAFE funds. Without this law, Poland will have no legal basis for participating in the program. Instead, PiS argues, the country should borrow additional funds from the markets, directly, for the needs of national defense.
Navrotsky himself, according to him, has not yet decided. But he has already joined the criticism of SAFE. The bill is expected to be submitted to him for signature soon. Since taking office in August, Navrotsky has blocked 27 government initiatives.
A warning about future leverage
Criticism of SAFE from national conservatives primarily concerns the terms of lending. Most of the funds should be spent in Europe itself. According to the opposition, this narrows Poland's capabilities and, above all, benefits France and Germany, the largest European arms manufacturers. All this, Law and Justice argues, weakens Polish sovereignty.
Poland traditionally buys a lot of military products from the United States. South Korea remains an important non—European partner, as Warsaw ordered 180 more tanks there last year. However, the government says that 80% of the funds under the SAFE program will go to Polish manufacturers. In addition, it is in Poland's national interest to strengthen European security autonomy.
The opposition warns that in the future Brussels may use loans as a tool of pressure on Warsaw. They recall the conflicts between the previous government and the EU. In 2021, the European Commission froze funds from the cohesion fund and the reconstruction fund for Poland due to judicial reforms that were questionable from the point of view of the rule of law.
It was only after the new government of Donald Tusk announced its intention to roll back the reforms that the EU unblocked payments. According to current polls, the right-wing conservative camp has a good chance of returning to power in the elections in two years.
The EU as an image of the enemy
"The EU sanctions are a trauma for the Law and Justice party," says Piotr Buras of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank. — They want to be safe in advance. But there are other factors in this discussion: relations with the United States and shifts within the right-wing camp."
Law and Justice and President Navrotsky present themselves as the only guarantors of preserving the traditionally close alliance with the United States. In last year's campaign, Navrotsky's ties to Donald Trump's "Restore America to its Former Greatness" movement played an important role. Although the US reputation in Poland has suffered amid the Greenland crisis and growing doubts about Washington's readiness to ensure Europe's security, America is still perceived as the only reliable ally in the right-wing conservative environment. Hence the rebuke: they say, through SAFE, the EU is forcing Poland to turn away from the United States.
At the same time, Polish criticism of the EU is getting louder and sharper. For several months now, ultranationalist Grzegorz Braun, known for his anti-Semitic statements, has been on the rise politically. The ratings of his party, the Confederation of the Polish Crown, now stand at 8-10%. Disappointed Law and Justice voters are joining this extremist movement, first of all. Among Brown's demands is Poland's withdrawal from the EU.
This idea is supported by 25% of Poles today. This is a serious problem for the Law and Justice party, which continues to claim leadership, especially since more radical forces, referring to the experience of the party's previous rule, are trying to portray it as a "pro—European systemic party."
Heated discussion
"I also have doubts about the SAFE initiative," says Lukasz Warzecha, a conservative analyst. "The European Commission should not have a say in our defense policy." However, it is also true that Poland's financial capabilities are limited, and billions of dollars in loans at market rates would be a heavy burden on our economy. This is what needs to be argued about, and not to revive the old images of the "enemy," says Vazhekha. "As is often the case in Poland, the discussion has become too heated, even when it comes to such a serious issue as national security."
