At 1:30 p.m. today, ministers from Donald Tusk’s government are expected to sign the SAFE agreement. At what interest rate? “I’m not going to talk about a specific rate at this moment. I can only say this: first of all, we need to finalize this agreement today… it will be made public and signed today,” Finance Minister Andrzej Domański said when asked the question.
Despite the president’s veto and public opposition, Donald Tusk’s government has decided to push ahead at all costs with taking on a massive long-term loan under the EU’s SAFE program. The signing ceremony is scheduled for Friday, May 8, at 1:30 p.m. at the Prime Minister’s Office in Warsaw. Notably, Prime Minister Donald Tusk himself will not sign the agreement. Instead, the signatures will be provided by two ministers: Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and Finance Minister Andrzej Domański.
It is also worth recalling that in mid-March President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the legislation implementing SAFE and proposed his own alternative project, the so-called “0% SAFE.” However, the proposal has not been processed in parliament.
Domański Will Sign SAFE — But Doesn’t Know the Interest Rate
This morning, shortly before the signing of the SAFE agreement, Finance Minister Andrzej Domański appeared on Polsat News.
As he stated: “No, absolutely not [my hand will not tremble while signing SAFE]. This is a very beneficial agreement for our country, our security, and for strengthening Poland’s resilience.”
“I’m actually proud that I can sign this agreement today, because there is no cheaper or more effective source of financing for the modernization of the Polish army than the SAFE program. We need money to modernize the Polish military not in a year, not in five years, but immediately,” he continued.
When asked: “What will the starting interest rate be?” no clear answer was given.
“I’m not going to talk about a specific rate at this moment. I can only say this: first of all, we need to finalize this agreement today… it will be made public and signed today. What is worth mentioning is that the difference already amounts to, I believe, more than 90 basis points. So that gap is continuing to grow,” Domański said.
The journalist interrupted:
“I understand that we will borrow more cheaply through SAFE than through Polish government securities, but frankly, it doesn’t look very good — in my opinion — if at the very beginning we can’t even say at what interest rate we’re borrowing.”
“But we are borrowing in tranches. First, we will receive an advance payment of €6.5 billion,” the minister from Donald Tusk’s government insisted.
“At what interest rate?” the journalist pressed again.
“The European Commission will gradually borrow on financial markets at a specific interest rate. We will know that rate at the moment when the European Commission actually takes out the loan on the market,” the politician replied.