Poland on track to receiving funds from modified recovery plan

The European Commission is to approve Poland’s revised recovery plan regarding the REPowerEU initiative, for which in August Poland applied for €2.76 billion in grants and €23 billion in low-interest loans, media reported on Wednesday.

Poland and the European Commission are currently negotiating the country’s implementation of the REPowerEU plan, the energy chapter of each EU country’s post-pandemic recovery plan.

“The European Commission is to approve Poland’s modified national recovery plan concerning REPowerEU,” Bloomberg’s correspondent Natalia Ojewska wrote on X on Wednesday.

In August, the government submitted the chapter’s project regarding REPowerEU to the Commission, applying for €2.76 billion in grants and €23 billion in low-interest loans.

However, EU recovery funding has long been blocked for Poland, with the Commission citing rule of law concerns – particularly related to the country’s failure to guarantee judicial independence, which the Commission has set as a milestone for Poland to have its EU funds unlocked.

The money Poland would now receive is in the form of an advance, which means that the payment would not depend on achieving key milestones, as confirmed by the Commission.

Approving the REPowerEU implementation plan would open the way for Poland to receive 20% of the ultimate sum with no prerequisites, meaning €5 billion.

The Commission and the Council have until the end of the year to approve the country’s plans, and payouts should start as early as the first quarter of 2024.

Opposition leader and likely future prime minister Donald Tusk promised that if his Civic Coalition (KO, EPP/Greens) came to power, he would do his best to unblock recovery and resilience funds for Poland while blaming the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS, ECR) for failing to deliver.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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