ROME — Poland is set to utilize almost one-third of a European Union €150 billion ($176 billion) debt fund for defense spending, reflecting the country’s concerns about Russian aggression.

Warsaw has been allocated €43.7bn in loans by Brussels for arms purchases under the EU SAFE program, the bloc’s Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said.

Set up in March, the Security Action For Europe (SAFE) plan involved an offer of €150bn in low-cost loans to EU member states and allies to quickly beef up defense capabilities in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing reluctance by the U.S. to shore up Europe’s defense.

On Tuesday Kubilius said that all the €150bn of loans had been subscribed to by 19 member states, and called the plan “a European success story.”

Behind Poland, Romania has been granted €16.7bn in loans while France and Hungary each took €16.2bn and Italy signed up for €14.9bn, he said.

Belgium will receive €8.3 billion, Lithuania €6.4 billion, Portugal €5.8 billion and Latvia €5.7 billion, while other loan cash recipients are Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Slovakia and Spain.

As well as low interest payments, the loans also come with a ten-year grace period for repayment.

“I would like also to remind that when SAFE was announced early in spring, here was a lot of skepticism about possible low interest to take the loans. The contrary is true. The interest from the member states have been a resounding success,” he said.

Loans would also be available to Ukraine, to EU candidate countries and countries with security deals with the EU.

“Bilateral technical agreements with Great Britain and Canada on their participation in SAFE Programme will be negotiated very soon,” he said.

Loans will be approved for spending which supports the European defense industry and promotes joint procurement between states, with a focus on “air/missile defense, ground combat, space, strategic capabilities, cyber and space capabilities,” Kubilius said.

“When I visited Washington D.C. before summer, one well known U.S. expert told me that right now, worldwide, SAFE is the biggest financial package to be invested into defense with such a speed. It is also important that we are sending a strong message of support to the frontier countries, when the US is announcing that they will reduce their support,” he said.

Member states must now submit an investment plan for their loan cash by Nov. 30, with loan agreements due to be signed in the first quarter of 2026 if approved.

Tom Kington is the Italy correspondent for Defense News.