2024-04-15 14:58 update: 2024-04-16, 21:18
Fot. PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Poland has received the first payment of EUR 6.3 billion from the European post-pandemic funds, the biggest single transfer of EU money to Poland so far, the funds and regional policy minister has announced.
Poland is set to receive EUR 25.3 billion in grants and EUR 34.5 billion in loans from EU coffers under its National Recovery Plan (KPO), which details how the money will be spent.
In late February, the European Commission (EC), the EU's executive arm, issued a preliminary positive assessment of Poland's application for the first payment of EUR 6.3 billion (PLN 27 million) in the EU's post-Covid-19 funding, which is 10.5 percent of the whole amount provided for in the KPO.
On Monday, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz wrote on the X platform:
"PLN 27 billion - Poland has just received the largest transfer from the EU in the history of our membership."
She added that Poland should receive the next payment from KPO by the end of the year after submitting two more payment applications.
The EU froze the money due to concerns over rule of law issues dating back to the socially-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government, which was in office until December 2023.
But, on February 29, the EC found that Poland had met the so-called milestones, including the independence of the judiciary, which allows funds to be disbursed as part of the first payment request. (PAP)
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