Poland rushes to sign contracts for EU defence loans

{"text":[[{"start":7.45,"text":"The Polish government is rushing to sign dozens of military manufacturing contracts before a Sunday deadline, as Warsaw seeks to funnel most of its €43.7bn EU defence loans to the domestic arms industry."}],[{"start":23.1,"text":"Poland is the largest beneficiary of the bloc’s €150bn rearmament fund set up in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. But a spat between Eurosceptic President Karol Nawrocki and pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk has delayed allocation of the funds."}],[{"start":40.400000000000006,"text":"Under the EU’s so-called Safe programme, procurement deals with a single domestic manufacturer have to be locked in by May 30, with the remainder of the money being allocated to cross-border initiatives."}],[{"start":52.95,"text":"Tusk has pledged that at least 80 per cent of Poland’s Safe funding would support domestic manufacturing, which is dominated by state defence conglomerate PGZ. That commitment sent authorities scrambling for partners on the 139 Safe projects the European Commission approved this month."}],[{"start":70.95,"text":"Polish officials have recently made several trips abroad to agree deals for the Safe-funded projects. Defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz travelled to Canada this week and secured a contract for Ottawa to buy drones made by WB Group, a Polish manufacturer in which the state holds a minority stake."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":88.80000000000001,"text":"Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, Poland’s government representative for the Safe programme, told the FT that “we’ve fulfilled the [Safe] plan”. The 40 contracts to be signed by Sunday will account for over half of Poland’s Safe funding. Warsaw is “investing most of the money in Polish industry and getting contracts from other member states”, she added. "}],[{"start":111.10000000000001,"text":"Warsaw was now in talks with Safe partners or buyers from Sweden, France, Spain, Slovakia and Greece. One of Poland’s biggest Safe investments involves a Polish-Norwegian consortium that is building a €3.5bn anti-drone system."}],[{"start":127.85000000000001,"text":"Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, deputy chair of the Polish parliament’s defence committee, said the war in Ukraine showed that it was “crucial to have a well-developed domestic industry” that can also reduce reliance on foreign suppliers during a conflict. "}],[{"start":142.3,"text":"Warsaw has yet to earmark Safe funding for contracts involving Germany, as Tusk is reluctant to fuel the right-wing PiS opposition’s claims that he is Berlin’s stooge."}],[{"start":152.3,"text":"President Nawrocki, a PiS appointee, last month vetoed the Safe programme, after party leader Jarosław Kaczyński claimed it would place Poland “under the German boot”. The government then resorted to a workaround to be able to tap the EU loans. "}],[{"start":167.85000000000002,"text":"Tusk on Wednesday signed a new bilateral security and defence agreement with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that includes plans to deepen co-operation in producing mid-range missiles. In 2023, PGZ had already signed a £4bn deal to manufacture in Poland anti-aircraft missiles designed by MBDA for the British military."}],[{"start":197.50000000000003,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1780037596_9901.mp3"}