Defence, Italy among 18 countries to join Safe Fund: will access EU loans for rearmament

Squaring off, avoiding slabbering, fighting the boomerang risk after the US-EU agreement on 15% tariffs. Yesterday Giorgia Meloni avoided notes, statements and official releases. But, after the Ethiopian trip, as anticipated in the Sole 24 Ore on newsstands, she gathered at Palazzo Chigi the deputies Antonio Tajani and Matteo Salvini, the Minister for the Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, the Defence Minister, Guido Crosetto (video-linked), and the Minister for European Affairs, Tommaso Foti.

The dossier on the table was that of defence investments, in particular the European Safe fund of 150 billion in loans to strengthen industrial and technological capacity. In the evening, Italy announced in a letter to Brussels that it had joined the fund, in spite of Giorgetti's call for caution in May: it will access 14 billion over five years, with repayments that can be spread over 45 years. The aim, government sources explain, is to finance the defence programmes already planned in the five-year period 2026-2030 and 'lighten the state budget by including a large part of the defence expenditure on the Safe programme'.

The EU Commission is pleased to announce that a total of 18 countries have applied for access to the fund, a pillar of the Readiness 2030 programme (formerly Rearm Eu): in addition to Italy, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Finland.

Since the morning, the M5S of Giuseppe Conte has been lashing out against the government's decision. "Shameful, they did it at night, on the last day available to make a request to their friend Von der Leyen: we will oppose with all our might this policy with the helmet on our heads, which cuts welfare to finance war," thundered the vice-president of the Movement, Chiara Appendino, while   MP Arnaldo Lomuti asked that the premier come immediately to report in the House. The same request was made by Marco Grimaldi (Avs). "With this move," noted the president of the Pentastellati senators, Stefano Patuanelli, "they will not create any treasury for the budget law, given that Meloni has always signed up to the 5% defence investments in NATO, which are added to the rules of the Stability Pact, always voted for by Meloni, now considered by all analysts a noose around the neck on productive and social investments".

The head and fears of the government remain, however, at the dazi. While waiting for the final framework agreement and, above all, the subsequent legally binding agreement that each country will have to commit to, the premier preaches caution. She will do so again today in the Council of Ministers. She has no intention of remaining isolated in Europe, after even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz distanced himself from the pact. Contacts and phone calls with other chancelleries have been continuous, as has the look at the markets and the spread.