How France's push to exclude the UK from the EU's €150 billion SAFE defense fund backfired, costing Paris €1.1 billion

The UK's separate negotiations to join SAFE had already collapsed in November 2025. London declined to meet the multi-billion-euro entry fee demanded by the EU — initially reported as high as €6.5 billion — and the talks failed.

How it backfired: France loses €1.1 billion of its own loans

France subsequently submitted loan requests totaling €16.2 billion from the SAFE fund for a range of defense projects, including several involving joint production with the UK. The European Commission approved only €15.1 billion, leaving a shortfall of approximately €1.1 billion.

Three people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that the gap occurred because some UK-linked projects failed to meet the strict qualification criteria that France itself had pushed for.

Key projects disqualified

• MBDA projects: The Franco-British missile manufacturer's joint production lines were among those ruled ineligible. MBDA's UK-based operations counted against eligibility under SAFE's rules, limiting the program's ability to fund the company's cross-Channel work.
• Storm Shadow/SCALP cruise missiles: Projects linked to the production of these long-range missiles, already supplied by the UK and France to Ukraine, were also affected. MBDA is the maker of Storm Shadow/SCALP, and its joint development and production involve both British and French facilities.

The chain of cause and effect

Bottom line: a strategic own-goal

France pushed for hardline eligibility rules to keep UK defense firms at arm's length from EU-backed defense spending. But the same rules trapped France's own interconnected projects. Because so many French defense programs rely on British partners and components — especially in missile production through MBDA — the restrictions disqualified precisely the kind of collaborative work Paris had planned to fund. The net result: France lost access to roughly €1.1 billion of its own low-interest loans, leaving it unable to finance several planned Franco-British weapons projects.