EU Disburses First SAFE Defence Instrument Payments to Belgium and Czechia

The European Commission disbursed the first payments under the SAFE defence instrument to Belgium and Czechia; the specific amounts and timing were not disclosed in existing reports. On 6 October 2026, European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Tzitzikostas visited New Delhi and, together with India's Minister of Civil Aviation, launched the first EU-India high-level aviation dialogue, implementing the requirement to establish a regular aviation dialogue set out in the Joint Comprehensive Strategic Agenda of the January 2026 EU-India summit.