Poland receives first payment of long-awaited EU post-pandemic funding
Poland has received EUR 5 billion, its first money from the EU's RePowerEU programme as part of the post-pandemic recovery funding it is entitled to under its National Recovery Plan (KPO), the minister for funds and regional policy announced on Thursday.
Poland is due to receive EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans from the EU's pandemic relief fund under its KPO but the money has been held up due a rule-of-law dispute between Brussels and Poland's former government.
The new Polish pro-EU government, which took office in mid-December, 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.
Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, the funds and regional policy minister, had said in mid-December that Poland would get a promised EUR 5-billion advance on the money before the end of the month. The initial tranche has been earmarked for energy transformation.
"It gives me pleasure to announce that EUR 5 billion has just come to Poland from the RePowerEU programme, as part of the PKO," Pelczynska-Nalecz wrote on the X platform. "It is money for cheap green energy for Polish citizens." (PAP)
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