Daily News 06 / 10 / 2026

Belgium and Czechia receive first payments under SAFE defence instrument

Today, Belgium and Czechia received their first payments under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence instrument. Belgium received €1.2 billion representing 15% of its total allocation of €8.3 billion. Czechia received €309 million representing 15% of its total allocation of €2 billion. 

Today's geopolitical reality calls for immediate and resolute action, such as the SAFE instrument. This pre-financing will help Belgium and Czechia accelerate priority defence investments, strengthen resilience, and modernise their military capabilities in line with shared European goals. SAFE is designed to enable swift, co-ordinated action, improve the ability of European forces to work together, and strengthen Europe's defence industry, including through joint procurement and closer cross-border co-operation. 

SAFE is a €150 billion financial instrument providing loans to Member States. It primarily funds joint procurement of ammunition, missiles, air defence, and ground combat systems produced within the EU. It is part of the European Commission's ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030 plan, which aims to unlock over €800 billion in defence investment across the European Union. With these two disbursements, the Commission has allocated almost €13,5 billion in prefinancing to eleven Member States.    

These payments follow the completion of all required procedural steps and reflect the EU's commitment to providing timely, practical support through SAFE. Further payments will follow, as agreed milestones and implementation are met.  

The SAFE instrument is financed by EU borrowing on the financial markets. This enables competitively priced and attractively structured long-duration loans to requesting Member States. The terms of the SAFE loans benefit from the EU's strong credit rating. All SAFE loans will be repaid by the beneficiary Member States.