Eighteen European Union countries have applied for billions of euros from a new defense fund aimed at helping Europe provide for its own security, the bloc’s executive branch said Wednesday, with Poland seeking more than a third of the money.
The Security Action for Europe (SAFE) fund is a 150-billion-euro ($173 billion) program of cheap loans that member countries, Ukraine and outsiders with an EU security agreement, like Britain, can use to buy military equipment together.
