2021-04-27 16:50 update: 2021-04-28, 12:29
Mateusz Morawiecki. Fot. PAP/ Leszek Szymański
The ratification of a National Recovery Plan, needed for Poland to access billions of euros in EU post-pandemic funding, got closer after the Polish government won support from an opposition grouping.
The Left bloc held a meeting with government figures on Tuesday at which differences on where and how the money should be spent appear to have been ironed out.
All EU countries have to write a National Recovery Plan to gain access to funding, and Poland is eligible for EUR 23 billion in subsidies and over EUR 34 billion in loans.
Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, was quick to hail the significance of the meeting.
“Dear compatriots, today Poland is more important than party divisions and political divisions,” he said, adding it was important for parties “to put aside their differences” in order for the country to recover from the pandemic crisis.
“These are not some abstract European funds,” said Morawiecki. “These are concrete funds for the renovation of a hospital where a parent is being treated, funds for the modernisation of a school where a child studies.”
The backing from the Left will relieve pressure on Law and Justice, the dominant force in Poland’s United Right coalition, which had been struggling to secure support for the plan from its junior partners.
A lack of support from within its own ranks had raised the prospect of the government failing to get the plan ratified by parliament, hence the need for help from the Left.
Ryszard Terlecki, the head of the Law and Justice’s parliamentary group, said that both sides had agreed on a number of key issues, while Robert Biedron, one of the Left’s leaders, said the government had agreed “to all our conditions”. (PAP)
kgr/
