WARSAW — Poland wants to borrow an enormous €43.7 billion under the EU’s loans-for-arms SAFE program, but that’s running into doubts from the country’s nationalist President Karol Nawrocki.

Nawrocki has urged caution over Poland’s planned loan — the largest of any country borrowing under the €150 billion Security Action for Europe scheme — describing it as “a huge debt that will be repaid by the Polish state for years.” 

That contrasts sharply with the view of pro-EU Prime Minster Donald Tusk, who said the loans were being issued on “very favorable terms, unavailable on the market in any other way.”

SAFE provides low-interest, long-term loans with a 10-year grace period for principal repayments, raised by Brussels on capital markets and offering significant savings compared to national borrowing.

Those terms are crucial for Poland, which plans to devote 4.8 percent of its GDP to defense this year, one of the highest levels in NATO. The country’s public finances are under pressure due to its long-term effort to build up its military to deter Russia and support Ukraine.

But Nawrocki is wary, and his advisers warn SAFE is aimed at helping Germany rather than Poland — an appeal to Nawrocki’s core voters who are suspicious of Berlin.

Poles deserve clarity on costs, conditions and any political strings attached to SAFE, Nawrocki said during a Wednesday meeting of Poland’s National Security Council, which he chairs.

“Although SAFE formally operates as a loan mechanism, the indirect risk cannot be ignored — namely that disbursements could be linked to broader political conditionality,” the president said. “The final decision on payments and the terms attached to them will rest with the European Commission.”

Nawrocki also pressed the government to publish the list of all 139 planned projects to be financed from SAFE and questioned whether the program could ultimately favor West European defense companies rather than Polish ones.

After the meeting, Tusk warned Nawrocki not to veto the SAFE plan.

“I hope that the doubts and grimaces of disapproval that came up during the discussion are not a prelude to a veto,” Tusk said before boarding a plane for an EU leaders’ summit in Belgium.

The government approved a draft law to implement SAFE in Poland on Wednesday.

Tusk and Nawrocki have been at each other’s throats for months as both sides gear up for a crucial parliamentary election next year. The president has vetoed several key pieces of legislation, and Tusk’s parliamentary coalition doesn’t have the votes to override him.

Tusk underlined that 80 percent of the SAFE money would stay in Poland, slamming the former nationalist Law and Justice government for signing big defense deals that he said hadn’t given much business to Polish arms firms.

“I did not fully understand what the doubts or uncertainty of the president and his associates are regarding the added value that SAFE provides,” he said.

Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the money could start to flow by March if the Polish parliament and Nawrocki act in time.

“Now it’s time for efficient work in the parliament and the president’s signature. We are not paying attention to political spite,” he said on social media.