The Commission on Friday said it is still committed to finalising a defence loan agreement with Poland after the country’s president vetoed a bill that would have allowed Warsaw to receive €44 billion in loans.

This is “not the scenario we are looking for,” a Commission spokesperson said following the veto.

The comments came just one day after Polish President Karol Nawrocki killed the bill that would have given Poland the largest share of the €150 billion Security Action for Europe (SAFE) loans, a programme the EU created to incentivise joint defence procurement across the bloc.

Capitals must sign a loan agreement with Brussels to receive funding.

The Commission’s goal is to sign the loan agreement, the spokesperson said, adding it was committed to implementing the plan “without delay.”

Poland had sent the Commission a plan breaking down how it would use the €43.7 billion allocation, almost a third of the total loan 19 EU countries applied for to support their defence procurement. The country planned to use some of its money for a new anti-drone system dubbed SAN, while other funds would go to artillery systems and air and missile defence.

The Commission greenlit Poland’s plan in its second wave of approvals in January. The Polish parliament then adopted the bill, creating a mechanism for Poland’s National Development Bank (BGK) to receive and disburse the money.

However, the right-wing opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) began whipping up opposition to the loan, arguing that the SAFE funding would burden future generations with debt and put Poland’s spending under scrutiny of the Commission. They successfully convinced the president, an independent affiliated with the opposition, to veto the plan.

“We need Poland on board for the security of our continent,” the EU executive said on Friday, recalling that Poland committed to leading an initiative with Finland to defend the EU’s Eastern Flank.

The Polish government met on Friday morning to discuss alternative ways to get access to the loans. The cabinet later adopted a resolution enabling it to reallocate parts of the loan to the Defence Ministry’s budget to finance components of the plan that applied only to the military.

“Time is of the essence,” the Commission’s spokesperson said, adding that “it was up to member states” to decide if they wanted to request the loan back in 2025.

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