Cooperation under the EU SAFE mechanics was the main subject of talks between Polish and Italian national defence ministers held in Rome on Friday. Politicians besides declared that a fresh agreement on military cooperation between the 2 countries would shortly be signed.
Meeting of defence ministers of Poland and Italy, photograph by MON
– present we talked about the SAFE programme and Polish-Italian cooperation. Poland and Italy are in the first 4 largest beneficiaries of this EU programme," said Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz after the gathering with Guido Crosetto, Minister of Defence of Italy. "We have exchanged lists of products that we would be curious in erstwhile it comes to joint shopping. If we come to an agreement, it will be good information for both parties," he added.
SAFE is simply a low-interest and long-term debt strategy that will finance investment in defence and the acquisition of European production weapons. In the first year of operation of this mechanism, EU countries could study purchases carried out on their own interior market. Poland submitted projects to the evaluation of the full of EUR 43 billion, the largest of all the Community countries. As of May 2026, however, the European Commission will require at least bilateral initiatives.
Meeting of defence ministers of Poland and Italy, photograph by MON
Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamysz said that Poland is curious in projects implemented jointly with Italy. Already today, the Polish Army uses weapons produced on the Apenin peninsula. These include: Multipurpose helicopters AW149 whether advanced Master training aircraft, which in Poland are known as Whitehead. Therefore, it is not amazing that it is the products of the Italian aviation manufacture that are at most on the list of products curious in Poland in the context of loans with SAFE.
The Italian side in turn is very curious in Polish unmanned and anti-drone solutions. “We have very good companies, both from the private and public sectors, which are among the largest drone manufacturers in Europe,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “Poland is applying for EUR 43 billion, but these are loans, and that is why it is so crucial that we can spend this money on what we request most”, said the Deputy Minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, Government Plenipotentiary for SAFE. “It is clear to us that we are assuming cooperation with another countries, hence talks specified as those in Rome today”, she added.
After the meeting, the heads of defence departments of Poland and Italy besides informed that a fresh military cooperation agreement between the 2 countries would be signed soon. It will include plans for joint military exercises.
