Immediately after the Sejm vote on the SAFE program, Donald Tusk posted on social media. He criticized the opposition, which had been against the European Union loan from the beginning, calling Law and Justice (PiS) and Confederation politicians “enemies of Polish independence.” The opposition responded strongly to these insults.
A few days ago, the Council of Ministers adopted a draft law on the SAFE Financial Security Enhancement Instrument, submitted by the Minister of National Defense. The project is intended to allow Poland to use funds from the EU SAFE program, but in the form of a loan. Poland applied for a loan of over €43.7 billion, nearly PLN 200 billion.
Today, the Sejm passed the law implementing the SAFE program. 439 deputies voted. 236 voted “for,” 199 “against,” and 4 abstained. With this, the chamber rejected all amendments proposed by Law and Justice (PiS).
The law was supported by Civic Platform (KO), New Left (Lewica), Polish People’s Party (PSL), and Polska 2050 Party (Polska 2050), while Law and Justice (PiS) and Confederation (Konfederacja) opposed it.
From the start, the opposition has pointed out that the funds will mainly go to the arms industry in France and Germany and criticized the lack of transparency in projects financed through SAFE.
Tusk Strikes at the Opposition
Immediately after the vote, Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted on X:
“The masks have fallen. PiS and Confederation voted against the SAFE program, that is, against Poland’s security, against a modern army, against the Polish defense industry” – he wrote.
He stated: “This is no longer an opposition, these are enemies of Polish independence.”
PiS and Confederation deputies reacted to Tusk’s attack.
“Specifically on SAFE: a multi-year loan on unfavorable terms; no anti-corruption shield, which, in the context of information that the biggest beneficiary will be Polska Amunicja managed by Paweł Poncyliusz, a colleague of Tusk, raises legitimate doubts about the spending of these funds; verbally, they declare that 89% of these funds will go to the Polish defense industry, but when we proposed an amendment to include this in the law, they voted against it; Poland has not received any funds yet, and each amount will be granted by Brussels only if the agreement is approved by the European Commission -> Germany; furthermore, the implementing agreements are still not ready… with a deadline until the end of May 2026. Even Ms. Sobkowiak doubts whether this amount will be fully used” – wrote Rafał Bochenek, spokesperson for Law and Justice (PiS).
Radosław Fogiel, Law and Justice (PiS) MP, commented: “They keep hammering this crude message for half-intellectuals, hoping someone will believe them – because that’s all they can do. Not a word on why they opposed the amendment so that SAFE debt repayment would not burden the Ministry of Defense budget. Why were they against including in the law that 89% of expenditures should go to the Polish defense industry, if they themselves claim this?”
“Not a word about the fact that the shopping list is known to Brussels officials, but not to Poles, and that purchases will be dictated by the European Commission, not by the real needs of the Polish army. Not a word about the conditionality that allows payments to be suspended at any time under any pretext or to force Poland into specific decisions – migration pacts, treaty changes… Not a word about the unreliability of the ‘calculations’ of this loan’s cost and projected interest” – the politician noted.
He added: “Since this year’s 20-year bonds issued by the European Commission have a yield of 3.837%, and the 30-year ones 4.061%, how can the 45-year SAFE bonds be cheaper? They won’t utter a word that SAFE funds are not an additional source of financing, but largely replace the Armed Forces Support Fund, which had no restrictions on what equipment and from whom we could purchase. These are serious concerns that Tusk and his entourage will not address.”
Janusz Cieszyński, former Minister of Digital Affairs, wrote: “Again, agitation instead of an honest discussion about the shopping list and financing conditions. We get a primitive brawl and insults directed at the opposition.”