Crosetto: ‘Without the Safe scheme, we would have to postpone some investments’

If Italia does not join SAFE – the European Union scheme providing loans of up to 150 billion euros to help Member States rapidly and significantly increase investment in the defence sector through joint procurement – certain defence investments will have to be postponed. This was emphasised by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, speaking on Wednesday 17 June during Question Time in the Chamber of Deputies.

“The SAFE,” he explained, “is not a substitute, because otherwise it would lose all its usefulness. Should Italia join, the Ministry of Defence has the investments ready. It would allow us to bring forward investments that would otherwise have to be postponed.” Crosetto reiterated that “the decision to join SAFE does not fall within the remit of the Defence Minister” and that “to date, the SAFE mechanism has not yet been activated”.

The issue of resources was also addressed by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Luciano Portolano. Speaking this morning at a hearing on the missions decree before the joint Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees, the general highlighted that ‘underfunding of the operational sector is having an increasingly significant impact on efficiency, readiness, safety standards, training levels and the sustainability of the deployment of defence assets, systems and infrastructure. As is well known,” explained Portolano, “the financial provision for Italia’s participation in international missions is covered by the fund, which is planned on a three-year basis, for a total amount of approximately one and a half billion. The overall defence requirements for 2026 have been estimated at approximately one billion and eight, whilst the actual funding allocated to the Ministry stands at one billion and thirty-nine. This figure – as highlighted by the Chief of the Defence Staff – represents a 6 per cent decrease compared with the 2025 defence budget, which stood at one billion and four, amounting to a reduction of approximately 89 million: this, combined with the persistent critical issue of underfunding in the operational sector, has necessitated a comprehensive reorganisation of resources to best safeguard the achievement of the outcomes linked to the identified strategic priorities and objectives’.

Whilst Italia has not yet joined SAFE, France has. Paris and the European Commission have signed a €15.1 billion loan agreement in favour of France to finance the joint procurement of armaments, as part of the programme to support Europe’s rearmament in times of war and geopolitical threats. The agreement was formalised during a ceremony on the sidelines of the Eurosatory exhibition, on the outskirts of Paris, by French ministers Roland Lescure (Economy) and Catherine Vautrin (Defence) and EU Commissioners Piotr Serafin (Budget) and Andrius Kubilius (Defence). Quoted by Agence France-Presse, Serafin hailed this as an ‘important milestone in building a Europe better able to take its destiny into its own hands’.