“I still have a Plan C, in which I would like, in a reduced version, to start these investments. I am waiting for 100 percent, and this requires very serious money,” said Dariusz Klimczak, Minister of Infrastructure in Donald Tusk’s government, regarding the EU SAFE loan.
President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the law implementing the EU SAFE rearmament mechanism. Earlier, he presented, together with the President of the National Bank of Poland (NBP), his own alternative to the program, called “Polish SAFE 0 percent.” A draft law on the Polish Defense Investment Fund has already been submitted to the Sejm, which proposes the creation of a fund primarily financed from NBP profits.
Włodzimierz Czarzasty stated that the presidential draft law on the Polish Defense Investment Fund, the so-called Polish SAFE 0 percent, was sent for preliminary analysis to the Sejm Legislative Bureau and the Bureau of Expertise and Regulatory Impact Assessment. He emphasized that, based on the information he received from this analysis, he decided not to assign an official print number to the draft.
At the same time, the Minister of National Defense – Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz declared that the government would “see through” the EU SAFE program. The leader of Polish People’s Party (PSL) stressed that the president’s veto does not rule out the possibility of using EU loans, but it does, for example, complicate allocating funds to security services.
The exact cost of this loan remains uncertain. However, neither the Ministry of Finance nor the government’s SAFE plenipotentiary Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka are able to provide a specific figure. The opposition warns that it could be as high as the value of the loan itself – up to PLN 180 billion.
President vetoed SAFE. Klimczak has… “Plan C”
Since the president’s veto, the issue has effectively been at a standstill, even though the ruling coalition threatened to introduce a Council of Ministers resolution on the matter. This was supposed to be the government camp’s “Plan B.”
It turns out, however, that one of the ministers – Dariusz Klimczak, responsible for the Ministry of Infrastructure – already has another plan… “Plan C.”
In an interview with RMF FM, he first blamed President Karol Nawrocki for the veto, claiming that the decision “delays everything.”
“The veto [regarding SAFE] changes a lot, because if the president had signed this law, we would have already started the tenders. We have them ready; for two investments, we are ready to announce tenders in April, others a bit later, but it is this year,” he said.
This statement strongly contrasts with the words of the government’s SAFE plenipotentiary, Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, who yesterday said that “there are still many unknowns surrounding the project.”
Klimczak, however, insisted
“We have a Plan B [regarding SAFE] and we are even discussing it with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The main architect is the Ministry of National Defense and Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, but the Ministry of Infrastructure significantly presents its vision of how we could legally finance such investments. I still have a Plan C, in which I would like, in a reduced version, to start these investments. I am waiting for 100 percent, and this requires very serious money,” he said.
TV Republika and Niezalezna reported on the developments, highlighting the ongoing debate and the government’s efforts to advance the SAFE program despite the presidential veto.