Due to the European Commission’s concerns about the rule of law in Poland under the previous socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, in office until December 2023,
the billions of euros in recovery funding had been frozen, causing a delay in the plan’s implementation.
In late February, the European Commission (EC), the EU’s executive arm, found that Poland had met the so-called milestones required for the release of funds, including the independence of the judiciary.
However,
the EU aid must be spent by the end of 2026 but many investment projects in the KPO have not even been started and may not be implemented in time, which can result in them not being financed with the recovery funds.
As a result, Poland’s new coalition government was pressed to revise the country’s recovery plan as EU funding was at stake.
On Tuesday, the Polish government debated a set of changes to KPO and, in the afternoon, Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, the funds minister, announced on X platform:
“The revision of the KPO adopted by the Council of Ministers! A few months ago, we had KPO blocked with delayed reforms and unrealistic investments.”
She added that thanks to the adopted changes, Poland will be able to invest 600 million zlotys (€139 mln) more in local hospitals, 2.5 billion zlotys (€578 million) more for farmers and 600 million zlotys (EUR 139 mln) more for thermal insulation of multi-family buildings.
“First of all, we will replace the tax on combustion cars with subsidies for the purchase of electric cars,” Pełczyńska-Nałęcz wrote.
On April 24, a deputy funds and regional policy minister, Jan Szyszko, said that in late April or early May, Poland will send the revised KPO approved by the Council of Ministers to the European Commission, which will have two months to respond.
As part of the KPO’s revision, Poland wants to change or even abolish some of the so-called milestones which the previous government had included in the KPO and, among others, avoid implementing a combustion engine vehicle tax.
Under the KPO,
Poland is set to receive a total of €59.8 bln (268 bln zlotys), including €25.27 bln (113.28 bln zlotys) in grants and €34.54 bln (154.81 bln zlotys) in preferential loans.
The Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy reported on Tuesday that by April 15, Poland had received around €3.2 bln from the KPO in grants and €8.1 bln in loans.
