Poland and the European Commission (EC) will discuss the first tranche from the EU’s pandemic relief funds under Poland’s National Recovery Plan (KPO) in January, with the inflow expected in spring, the funds and regional policy minister has announced.
Poland is due to receive EUR 25.3 billion in grants and EUR 34.5 billion in loans from the EU’s pandemic relief fund under its KPO, but the money has been held up due to a rule-of-law dispute between Brussels and Poland’s former government.
The new Polish pro-EU government, which took office in mid-December 2023, has been determined to mend relations with Brussels strained by the previous Euro-sceptic Law and Justice (PiS) government over PiS’s judicial reforms that the EU said violated the rule of law. This led to the EU freezing KPO funds for Poland.
“The meeting will be about the first application, but also about the KPO’s priorities and other matters related to the programme’s implementation,” said Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, the funds and regional policy minister. “It is a usual and obvious visit after taking up this post”.
“Currently, the EC has a Christmas break, and I am waiting for them to start working; the meeting will surely take place in January,” she added.
Pelczynska-Nalecz expects the first payment to come at the end of March or beginning of April, “based on the usual way of proceeding such applications.” She said she would reveal more details after the meeting in Brussels.
Poland submitted the first application for the disbursement of funds in December 2023, with a total expected inflow of about EUR 6.9 billion, including nearly EUR 2.7 billion in grants and about EUR 4.2 billion in loans. (PAP/Business World Magazine)