Letter from Italy to the EU Commission seeking 8 billion from the Safe fund

The European Commission has received the letter in which Italia requests the use of SAFE funds. A senior EU official has informed ANSA of this. The amount requested ultimately totals 8 billion, out of the 14.9 billion originally ‘earmarked’.

“Our country’s decision to release 7 to 8 billion from the Safe funds allocated by Europe for investment, including in the defence sector, is a wise one. This is not about fuelling warmongering ambitions, but about thinking about defence and, therefore, about our country’s autonomy and freedom. The international situation has deteriorated significantly. Threats from the east and south are multiplying. We need modern capabilities that can address the deep sea as well as space and the cyber domain. The defence guidelines clearly set out a serious and feasible path that Italia must support with investments which will also have a technological impact on sectors outside the defence sector. In this context, there are also fundamental needs such as the funding of operational activities, which require greater resources, as well as issues concerning the welfare of personnel. For Forza Italia, it is essential to finalise the allocation for the dedicated pension scheme, as the centre-right government committed to doing when renewing the collective agreement for the security and defence sector. We have funded this budget item in the past through an initiative that I, too, have championed on several occasions. The task now is to establish a stable framework to enable investment in the pension sector, which is essential to guarantee the rights of the security and defence sector. Since 2009, this sector has been recognised as having specific characteristics that must be supported by concrete action. For Forza Italia, particularly in the run-up to the examination of the Budget Bill, this is an absolute priority. ‘Thinking about defence must also begin with the men and women in uniform.’ This was stated by the Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, Forza Italia Senator Maurizio Gasparri.