Brussels thinks it has the answer. Under Readiness 2030 Europe, the EU is sketching an €800bn investment push over four years, €150bn in long-dated loans via a new SAFE programme, plus €650bn in fiscal headroom from the Stability Pact’s escape clause. The real test is not the headline figure but the financial plumbing, structuring projects, vetting borrowers and disbursing at speed without waste.
The model for this already exists. During the pandemic, the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) blended cheap EU loans with bank finance and private equity under strict rules. Greece is the standout case: €36.3bn allocated, €17.8bn in loans, €13bn committed alongside €10.5bn from banks and €7.5bn in own funds, mobilising €31bn. Digital milestone tracking ensured money flowed to productive investments, not handouts. By 2026, the RRF is forecast to lift Greek GDP by 7%. Athens ranks among the top performers in disbursement and compliance.
This is not about militarising the RRF. It is about porting its method into defence, where Europe lacks bankable projects more than cash. Three lessons travel well: disciplined blended finance (cheap EU loans plus equity and bank co-financing), clear eligibility with independent audit, and digital monitoring tied to milestones. These features crowd in private capital and keep politics out.
The structure also suits defence-adjacent projects with hard assets and predictable returns like industrial parks, test ranges, secure data networks, precision machining and dual-use technologies such as AI, advanced materials and cyber. Over time, this could yield technological spillovers into the broader economy, boosting competitiveness and innovation.
Greece could pilot a defence variant. It spends 3.1% of GDP on defence, has banks trained by the RRF to co-finance complex projects, and may have €4.5bn in undrawn loan capacity. Redirecting that headroom, within EU rules, towards defence infrastructure would inject capital quickly while preserving fiscal prudence.
The SME dimension is critical. Europe’s defence supply chain depends on thousands of small firms that need scale, cross-border certification and R&D finance. A defence-adapted RRF could de-risk upgrades and accelerate dual-use tech adoption.
Execution matters. Greek banks such as Piraeus have deployed €2.4bn in RRF loans to support €7bn of investment, building sustainable finance books and SME lending capacity. That muscle memory can expedite a defence pipeline.
Guardrails are essential: no pure weapons buys, only industrial underpinnings, capacity, tooling, testing and enabling tech. The funding should be portable across borders, with interoperability baked in.
The choice is stark, Europe can either spend years wrangling over figures or repurpose a proven recovery engine for defence, tuned for speed and scale. The Greek experience shows that with the right blend of cheap public loans, commercial discipline and digital accountability, Europe can turn political will into concrete, quickly. In defence, as in recovery, execution is strategy.
Written by Christos Megalou, CEO of Piraeus