Japan Applies to Participate in EU’s €150 Billion SAFE Defense Procurement Program

Japan has submitted an official application to participate in the SAFE defense procurement program, the EU’s €150 billion defense investment instrument.

This was reported by Ukrinform with reference to a briefing by European Commission spokesman Tom Rainier.

“Turkey and South Korea have also expressed interest in starting bilateral negotiations on full association with SAFE. This also applies to Japan. I can confirm this today,” the spokesman said.

He reminded that after the conclusion of a bilateral agreement with Canada on joining SAFE, the next step for the EU will be to consider the applications of South Korea and Turkey.

Regarding Japan’s chances of concluding a SAFE agreement given its late application, the spokesperson noted that one should be careful with predictions. The European Commission has received 19 national plans from EU member states and is currently evaluating them.

The preliminary allocation for each member state that has applied is as follows:

Belgium: EUR 8,340,027,698
Bulgaria: EUR 3,261,700,000
Croatia: EUR 1,700,000,000
Cyprus: EUR 1,181,503,924
Czech Republic: EUR 2,060,000,000
Denmark: EUR 46,796,822
Estonia: EUR 2,660,932,171
Finland: EUR 1,000,000,000
France: EUR 16,216,720,524
Greece: EUR 787,669,283
Hungary: EUR 16,216,720,524
Italy: EUR 14,900,000,000
Latvia: EUR 5,680,431,322
Lithuania: EUR 6,375,487,840
Poland: EUR 43,734,100,805
Portugal: EUR 5,841,179,332
Romania: EUR 16,680,055,394
Slovakia: EUR 2,316,674,361
Spain: EUR 1,000,000,000

“However, it is very important to remember that third countries, including Japan, can participate in any case,” he added.

SAFE

The SAFE defense procurement program provides up to €150 billion in long-term loans to requesting EU member states for investment in defense capabilities.

The initiative has become the first pillar of a large-scale European rearmament plan, which aims to invest more than €800 billion in defense spending across all EU member states by 2030.

Production of Oncilla armored vehicles. Poland. Source: MISTA

One of the key conditions for participation in the program is restrictions on the origin of components. According to the rules, no more than 35% of the cost of components can be accounted for by products from outside the European Economic Area or Ukraine.

Ukraine and the countries of the European Economic Area are involved on equal terms with EU member states. This includes the right to participate in joint procurement and the ability to offer their own products for procurement. But it does not provide direct access to SAFE loans.

15 EU member states also included support for Ukraine in their applications. Spain, Poland and Croatia have already publicly announced cooperation with Ukraine under this mechanism.

In particular, Spain announced that it would use €215 million from its application to purchase anti-drone systems, radars, and other defense technologies for Ukraine.

More about Ukraine’s participation in European rearmament projects in the issue of the ‘Zbroya’ project, created jointly with the Ukrainian Council of Defence Industry, “Europe Will Buy Weapons from Ukraine. Global Rearmament for 150 Billion”.