“We must consider how – even after SAFE – to finance the armed forces in order to implement the modernization project outlined by the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces through 2039,” said today the head of the National Security Bureau, Sławomir Cenckiewicz. Until the president makes his decision, his aides intend to hold a series of talks with the government.
On Friday, the Sejm approved four Senate amendments to the bill implementing the EU loan program for rearmament under SAFE. The amendments provide, among other things, for loan repayment outside the Ministry of National Defence budget and anti-corruption safeguards for the project. Speaker of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty announced that he would sign the bill the same day and forward it to the president. Karol Nawrocki will have 21 days to make a decision on the matter.
No clear declaration has yet come from the Presidential Chancellery as to which decision the president is leaning toward. The doubts surrounding the EU loan were addressed today on Polsat News by the head of the National Security Bureau, Sławomir Cenckiewicz.
“The president has not made a decision; he is probably reflecting on it. We are also continuing to analyze the matter. We would like to further discuss these issues with representatives of the government. Let me remind you that the loan agreement remains unknown. I do not know what the negotiations regarding the very mechanism of taking out this loan – this credit facility – look like. All of this is still underway. Economic issues are also important,” emphasized the head of the National Security Bureau.
He added that dialogue on the matter had previously taken place between representatives of the Presidential Chancellery – including himself and the head of the Chancellery of the President, Zbigniew Bogucki – and the government, primarily with the government plenipotentiary for the SAFE program, Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka.
“We would like, having these few weeks, to deepen the discussions concerning the loan agreement itself,” Cenckiewicz stressed. He added that consultations are also being conducted in this matter, for example with economists. “We must consider how – even after SAFE – to finance the armed forces in order to implement the modernization project outlined by the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces through 2039,” he underlined.
The need to clarify these doubts before potentially signing the bill has also been communicated in recent weeks by the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki – the SAFE program consequently became one of the key topics of the National Security Council meeting held on February 11, as well as Wednesday’s commanders’ briefing.