The drones are already attacking, while the PSD wants to renegotiate air defense

Romania received 16.68 billion euros in preferential EU loans for military equipment and strategic infrastructure, with the first 2.5 billion euros arriving back in August. Mihai Ghigiu, the PSD's minister for European investments, now wants to reopen the 5.7-billion-euro package of contracts signed with Rheinmetall, even at the cost of financial penalties. As it happens, the package also includes the air defense systems that could be used to shoot down the drones flying into Romania.

On Thursday evening, in a programme on Antena 3, Mihai Ghigiu argued that there are now people in Romania who can convince Brussels that "we were stupid, we were scoundrels, we were corrupt," and that we therefore deserve another chance. He wants the defense and foreign ministries to initiate a renegotiation of the contracts, even if it costs money. The statement gave no indication of exactly which contractual terms he would change, how much Romania would gain from it, or how much any penalty might cost. What he did manage to do, however, was lay out the country's negotiating position live on air.

The package awarded at the end of May includes 298 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles in various versions, Skyranger and Skynex air defense systems, ammunition, and four ships; according to Rheinmetall, deliveries would begin in 2028 and run through 2030. Romania, meanwhile, is one of the most exposed countries on NATO's eastern flank: on the other side of the Danube, Russia is attacking Ukrainian ports, and Russian drones have repeatedly violated Romanian airspace—just in October, Romanian F-16s shot down two drones over our territorial waters. It was precisely because of such airspace violations that NATO launched Operation Eastern Sentry, so Bucharest knows quite precisely what that air defense would be needed for.

What's more, SAFE offers terms that Bucharest would hardly be able to secure on its own on the market. According to the Romanian finance ministry, the loan has a 45-year maturity with a ten-year grace period on principal repayments, and Romania obtains the funds on terms more favorable than its own market financing, thanks to conditions negotiated by the European Commission. Romania received the second-largest allocation in the entire program after Poland, though the disbursement of further installments depends on whether the country meets its agreed milestones. If a procurement of this size is reopened, then alongside any potential penalty, one also has to factor in what happens to the delivery deadlines and to the next EU installments.

Prime Minister Luca Niculescu says he will wait for now for the results of the inquiry launched at the defense ministry. The PNL, meanwhile, reminded the Social Democrats that PSD MPs themselves took part in approving SAFE, and that the party also backed the program in the relevant parliamentary committees. If overpricing or corruption is found, it should be made public—at which item, for how much, and on whose decision it happened; the scope for embezzling public money has to be narrowed exactly where the money is spent, and that means scrutinizing the signatures of the governing party's own people just as closely. For now, things stand at the point where the PSD minister is already willing to risk the deadlines before the investigation even concludes, and is prepared to have the cost of the dispute paid by the rest of us. Nobody, meanwhile, has told the drones to wait for the new contract.

Ugar