The money would have gone to, among other things, an anti-drone system that was announced in December. But the president said in a televised speech he did not want to borrow from the EU, saying it would undermine Poland's sovereignty and independence.
National-conservative Nawrocki is thus going against the left-wing government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which has already approved participation in Safe.
Poland was the big winner when the European Commission distributed money from the fund, and would receive nearly a third of the entire pot of 150 billion euros.
Nawrocki instead wants to borrow from the country's central bank and its gold reserve. The benefit would be to avoid paying interest on the loan.
