EU reviewing Türkiye's request to join SAFE program: Spokesperson

By Melike Pala

BRUSSELS (AA) - The European Commission on Wednesday confirmed that it has received Türkiye's request to join the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) program and is currently reviewing it before taking any further steps.

Speaking at a European Commission press briefing, spokesperson Thomas Regnier said: "We indeed received a request from Turkey. We also received one from South Korea. Our services are carefully analyzing these requests before deciding on any potential next steps."

Regnier explained that for the commission to back Türkiye's inclusion in SAFE, it would first have to adopt a recommendation and send it to the European Council, which would then need to endorse it before bilateral negotiations could start.

"We take, of course, concerns from our member states extremely seriously. We have safeguards in place in our regulation to make sure that no third country can contravene the interests of one of our member states or the European Union," he added.

Greek daily Kathimerini reported last week that Germany has urged Greece to drop its objections to Türkiye's participation in the €150 billion ($175 billion) SAFE program, designed to boost investment in Europe's defense industries, ahead of the Nov. 30 deadline for countries seeking loans through the initiative.