Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 15 October 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach
Scrutiny of EU Legislative Proposals
2:00 am
Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
I thank the witnesses for the presentations. I have a couple of questions on SAFE funding for the Commission. Does the SAFE funding of €150 billion sit outside the 1.5% of GDP that member states are allowed to borrow on top of their 3% limit? Is it a separate loan? At the moment, states can borrow 1.5% of GDP for defence purposes in addition to the normal 3% guideline they are limited to. Is the €150 billion additional source of funding on top of the 1.5% they can borrow?
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