A person rides by the Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, May 5, 2025. REUTERS
BUCHAREST, April 29 (Reuters) – Romanian lawmakers approved on Tuesday defence contracts worth 8.33 billion euros ($9.8 billion) to be funded under the European Union’s new re-armament initiative SAFE, clearing the last hurdle before a May 31 deadline, the defence minister said.
The country’s SAFE programme has come under risk this month after the largest party in the broad coalition government of four pro-European parties walked out, leaving it without a parliamentary majority and a no-confidence vote set for May.
Romania can access 16.6 billion euros from this year until 2030 from SAFE, a 150-billion-euro package of low-cost long-term loans available to EU states, Brussels’ solution to increasing defence spending around the bloc.
Romania will direct the funds towards defence acquisitions with a focus on domestic output, but its interior and transport ministries will also tap them to buy helicopters and radars and build transport links to neighbours Ukraine and Moldova.
Defence Minister Radu Miruta told reporters the major project would serve to safeguard the Romanian army against the risk of political instability.
Europe’s largest arms producer, Germany’s Rheinmetall will be the main contractor for roughly 5 billion euros worth of Romania’s total SAFE contracts.
These include a munitions ignition powder factory, infantry fighting vehicles, Skynex air defence systems and tanks.
It will also take over the bankrupt Romanian state-owned Mangalia naval shipyard where its new arm Naval Vessels Lurssen will build four corvettes for the Romanian military by 2030.
France’s Airbus is another large European contractor which will get a contract under SAFE to produce helicopters in Romania for several EU nations, Miruta said.
He added eight of the overall contracts would provide Romania with radars and anti-drone systems.
The EU and NATO nation has a 650-km (400-mile) land border with Ukraine.
Russian drones have repeatedly breached its airspace as Moscow attacks Kyiv port infrastructure across the Danube river from Romania, as well as mines floating in the Black Sea across key trade and energy routes.
