Poland has proposed the creation of a “rearmament bank” to help the European Union finance its growing defence needs. Foreign Affairs Minister Radosław Sikorski suggested the idea as a way to secure the estimated €500 billion required over the next decade to boost military production and preparedness.
“There is a new idea which I like: a rearmament bank,” Sikorski stated, emphasizing that real financial commitments are essential for effective defence. He likened the approach to an insurance policy, arguing that investments must be made in anticipation of threats.
To fund the initiative, Sikorski outlined several potential options, including increasing member state contributions to the EU budget, redirecting existing or unspent EU funds, and issuing collective debt—a proposal that remains controversial, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands.
He suggested that the proposed bank could be modeled after the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which was established after the Cold War to support former communist countries. The EBRD, along with the European Investment Bank (EIB), currently cannot finance purely military projects, prompting calls for reform.
“Now that we’ve decided that we do need to rearm, and I hope there is consensus on that, we need to create a somewhat similar institution to plug that gap. And that argument convinces me,” Sikorski told reporters.
Poland, which currently holds the rotating EU Council presidency, has placed security at the top of its agenda as the bloc reassesses its defence strategy amid evolving geopolitical challenges.
