Tajani: Safe – 14.9 billion has been earmarked, but we will use less than that

SAFE, the EU instrument that provides Member States with loans at preferential rates to boost investment in the defence sector, has sparked a row within the ruling coalition. “We have decided to utilise SAFE by requesting funding of 14.9 billion by the end of the year,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during the debate following the briefing on the results of the NATO Summit in Ankara given by Defence Minister Guido Crosetto to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Shortly afterwards, however, Tajani clarified: ‘We’ve set aside 14.9 billion for the Safe; we’ll decide how much of that we’ll use at the end of the year – it’ll probably be less, as Crosetto said, perhaps six, seven, eight or nine. It’s not as though we’ve said we’ll use 14.9, we said, ‘that’s the maximum we might need; we’ll decide how much we’ll use later – it’ll probably be less’.” But the reactions were immediate.

“Parliament has the final say on the use of the SAFE funds,” sources within the Lega have stated. “I am pleased to note Mr Tajani’s clarifications regarding the SAFE funds. No decision has been made as to whether or not to use them, and Parliament will decide on the basis of what is appropriate and cost-effective,” said Lega Senator Claudio Borghi in an interview with X.

The European Commission is seeking clarification: ‘Ideally, we certainly want Italia to retain the 14.9 billion in SAFE funds as announced today, and this is a very, very positive development. Now, we need to proceed with signing the loan agreement because we have to disburse the funds to get the project off the ground. So this is the timetable we are working with,” says a spokesperson in Brussels, explaining that “clarity is needed as soon as possible”. “If anything were to change regarding the funds, then we would be in an even more urgent situation because those funds would have to be reallocated. There is no time to lose.”

For his part, Defence Minister Crosetto explained during the hearing that the SAFE programme, ‘as it has been set up, is a tool for financing military expenditure, not in addition to that provided for in the budget. Therefore, in Italia, SAFE is an alternative to BoTs. It is an entirely technical decision that the Minister will make by the end of the year: of the 14.9 billion mentioned earlier by Minister Tajani, we will assess how much to use, from a technical perspective, as an alternative to BoTs and CcTs, in terms of financial viability.” “The political decision,” he added, “will be the budgetary deviation.”