The Future Starts Today: Green light for SAFE projects

The SAFE (Security Action for Europe) instrument is the EU's urgent and temporary response to the deterioration of the security environment, with the aim of accelerating major public investments in the European defense industry.

Corina Cristea, 20.02.2026, 14:00

The SAFE (Security Action for Europe) instrument is the EU’s urgent and temporary response to the deterioration of the security environment, with the aim of accelerating major public investments in the European defense industry. It is considered a crucial program, which occurs in a complicated geopolitical context. A context that has highlighted that Europe has a lot to do in the defense area, that Europe must be independent in this area, that a strong Europe is needed. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, with all its serious effects on European security, was the reason for the establishment of this instrument, conceived as a response to an existential challenge to the community space.

The European Union aims to increase its sovereignty in the field of defense, to reduce strategic dependencies, close critical capability gaps and strengthen the defense industrial and technological base in all member states. Along with Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Spain, Croatia, Cyprus and Portugal, Romania is part of the first wave of countries that have received the green light for European strategic defense investments. Gathered in Brussels, European Defense Ministers have recently given the final vote on the rearmament programs for the eight mentioned member states, and Romania received the second largest funding from the Union under the SAFE Program, after Poland, worth 16.7 billion euros. The amount will raise the value of Romania’s defense budget to 2.7% of GDP in 2026. That is, an increase of half a point from 2.2% last year, an increase that follows the commitments of all NATO allies for defense.

Political-military analyst Claudiu Degeratu: “The importance of this hierarchy of money allocation for Romania is recognized, after Poland we have a significant allocation for the eastern flank, and, at the same time, our absorption capacity is also positively evaluated, which is another important element for success in such financing instruments. I must say that we have ambitious projects, the consolidation of productive industrial capacities in Romania is also expected, which we have been waiting for years. This is happening now with the help of the European Union. It is an almost unique opportunity in the last 20 years of industrial development of the defense area.”

The acquisition of high-performance military equipment, such as the French Mistral missiles, the production of weapons and even drones, on the one hand, and the construction of over 200 kilometers of highway are among the main projects that Romania is to finance through SAFE. The defense minister Radu Miruţă says that Romania wants to move quickly in terms of the development and production of military equipment: “There are three categories of situations: some in which we will buy products from other people’s shelves, because we do not have the capacity to produce them in Romania; there are two other categories that give a boost to the national defense industry – some will be made 100% with production in Romania, the rest will be made with partial production, between 30-40-80%. That 80% that will be made in Romania, will, in fact, boost one of the components of the companies in the national armaments industry. For me, it is very important to give a boost to the national armament production, and how? Using this money from SAFE, bringing technology to a Romanian company, with Romanian employees who use the license of other companies that own such technology, and as a result of this joint venture, Romania will be left with a piece of the national industry fully operational. We also demonstrate that we have the capacity to deliver this in a very short time, because the deadline until 2030, with local production and with the completion of production, is not a very relaxed one, not even for private companies that are very efficient. Also, we bring to Romania and maintain in Romania the local supply chain, because in the SAFE projects that we intend to sign, there this obligation to introduce local companies into this circuit.”

Part of the ReArm Europe (Readiness 2030) program launched by the European Commission in the context of the war in Ukraine and the Russian threat to Europe in recent years, SAFE has a budget of 150 billion euros, granted in the form of loans, on advantageous terms. We are talking about a very low interest rate, which the European Commission can obtain thanks to its high credit rating, an interest rate of around 3% for 40 years, with a grace period of 10 years.

Minister Radu Miruţă also explained how the mechanism works within the European military program: “SAFE allows us to make joint purchases much more easily. If we buy 298 infantry fighting vehicles and someone else buys 1,000 – this is just a general example – we will benefit from the purchase price of 1,298 units, which means a much lower price than what we would have paid if we had bought them alone. This mechanism helps tremendously.”

Of the 21 projects assumed by Romania, 11 are joint purchases with other states, meaning lower prices and faster delivery. (LS)