The legislature passed the SAFE Act with coalition votes

polska-zbrojna.pl 4 weeks ago

61 Senators in favour, 26 against, no 1 abstained: this is the consequence of the legislature vote on the Financial Instrument for Enhancing SAFE Security. It was accepted with amendments tabled by the Senators of the ruling coalition. The amendments shall ensure, inter alia, that the repayment of the debt entered into under the programme will not incriminate the MON budget. Now the bill will return to the Sejm.

After a two-day debate, Senators voted in favour of the bill on Financial instrument to enhance the safety of SAFE. Under the programme prepared by the European Union, Poland is to receive a debt of EUR 43.7 billion for the acquisition of arms and military equipment. This is the amount that makes Poland the largest beneficiary of the programme from the 19 EU countries that joined it. The funds are to be spent by 2030 and each tranche of the debt will be repaid for 45 years.

RECLAMA

The legislature amends

Four amendments tabled by parliamentarians of the ruling coalition were adopted. The first task was added, among others, the presumption that the EU debt would not be repaid from the budget of the Ministry of Defence. Nor will it be included in the defence spending limit. The law sets its level at a minimum of 3 percent of GDP.

According to the proposed amendment, peculiar services are to monitor the appropriate functioning of the programme. The Agency for interior Security, Military Counterintelligence Service and Central Anti-corruption Office will be liable for anti-corruption and counter-intelligence cover. all year, the Minister coordinating the services is besides to study to the Parliamentary peculiar Services Committee on this matter. Senators besides voted on an amendment which obliges MON to study annually on the implementation of the plan not only to the parliamentary committees – as it was in the first draft – but besides to the senates.

A Stormy Debate

In the Parliament for the bill, which implements SAFE in Poland, voted KO, PSL, Poland 2050 and Left. The PiS, Confederation and Confederation of the Polish Crown were against. The same dividing line was visible during the two-day discussion in the Senate. – I want to present arguments for building a great, safe Poland, building a strong, well-equipped army, behind our alliances, behind the strength of our society. This is simply a large chance – he argued during the legislature meeting Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish, Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the MON.

As he argued, there is no cheaper safety credit present than the SAFE programme. "You can protest the European Union, but you cannot protest the facts. And it's not a debt from strangers either. We are part of the European Union, said the head of the MON. He besides stressed that thanks to the debt Poland will be able to modernise the armed forces without charging the MON budget.

Senators of Law and Justice requested respective amendments to the bill, but they were rejected. Among the changes made by them were the request to add a preamble to the draft, guaranteeing that no conditionality mechanics will be applied to the loan, which, according to the Law and Justice Office, may in future be part of political blackmail against countries that do not agree with EU policies.

Following a vote in the Senate, the bill will one more time go to the Sejm and then to president Charles Nawrocki's desk.

Anna Pawłowska

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