Poland’s Tusk vows to use EU defense loans despite president’s veto

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk vowed on Friday to find ways to tap into 43.7 billion euros ($50.1 billion) in defense loans from the European Union despite a veto by the country's president against a law enabling access to the funds.

Poland was set to be the largest beneficiary of the EU's 150 billion-euro Security Action for Europe initiative, or SAFE, which is designed to boost Europe's defense readiness at a time when the U.S. has been diminishing its role in the continent's security.

But President Karol Nawrocki, who has positioned himself as a main opponent of Tusk, said Thursday he is vetoing the legislation allowing Poland to access the EU defense loans.

"Poland is in shock," Tusk said Friday. "People are wondering if this is treason, the work of lobbyists, or a lack of common sense."

Tusk said the presidential veto will not prevent the Polish government from taking advantage of the defense funds, but "it will be more difficult, sometimes slower, and it will take much more effort to convince everyone involved in this project."

A European Commission spokesman said on Friday that the EU was determined to continue implementing the plans it had made with Poland "without delay." An advance payment could be made as early as April, he said.

Successive Polish governments have boosted the country's defense spending since Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine in 2022. But while Tusk's liberal government wants to coordinate efforts with the EU, the nationalist Nawrocki has proven more euro-skeptic and maintained a friendlier rapport with the Trump administration.

Nawrocki argues that Poland's participation in SAFE will indebt Poles and increase the country's dependency on Germany.

On Tuesday, he proposed an alternative draft law suggesting national resources that could be used instead of European loans to pay for further investments in defense. Tusk has dismissed that option as unrealistic.

The U.S. has also openly criticized SAFE.

"The United States has expressed concerns about how EU defense initiatives like Security Action for Europe and the European Defense Industry Program restrict market access for American companies," Andrew Puzder, the U.S. ambassador to the EU, and Matthew Whitaker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, wrote in an opinion piece published in February by Politico Europe.

Such European programs "undermine collective defense" by limiting competition, stifling innovation and depriving U.S. companies of necessary orders, they wrote.