The EU gives the go-ahead for the 8 billion from the Safe Fund for Italy

The European Commission has approved Italy’s request to access funds from the Safe programme for defence loans, totalling over 8 billion euros. The Commission’s approval “is very important both for us and for Italy, given the role that the Italian defence industry is playing in Europe and for Europe”, said the European Commission’s spokesperson for Defence, Thomas Regnier, during the daily press briefing. The spokesperson also outlined the next steps towards the disbursement of the funds: “The Council must approve our updated version of the Italian SAFE plan, and we will then proceed with the signing of the loan agreement, so that we can disburse an initial 15 per cent to the Italian government,” Regnier added.