Brussels to allocate $5.1bn tranche of EU financial assistance to Poland
Of the previously frozen funds for Poland in EU funds, Brussels approved the allocation of the first payout of financial assistance to Warsaw – worth $5.1bn, according to the Financial Times newspaper, TASS reports
In 2021, the European Commission froze the allocation of funds to Poland because of its disregard for the principle of the rule of law, which is the main criterion for the distribution of budget funds among EU member states. In particular, this refers to all the money from the EU budget, including the EU’s COVID-19 recovery fund.
According to the Financial Times, this payment was approved on the eve of the expected return to the post of PM, the leader of Poland’s largest opposition party, the Civic Coalition, Donald Tusk. In late October, he held talks in Brussels with Head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on the topic of unfreezing ‘Polish funds’.
If the EU funds assigned to Poland are released, about €60bn could be transferred to Warsaw. However, it can receive most of these grants and loans once Warsaw rolls back judicial reforms the European Commission has said have limited the independence of judges. According to EU Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, the demands put forward, which concern ‘important aspects of independence of Poland’s judiciary and some other elements’, remain unchanged. The regular tranches of EU funding would only be disbursed ‘once those super milestones will be fully and correctly implemented’, said Dombrovskis.
The article says that this condition does not apply to the tranche approved on November 21st, which is part of a more recent package of emergency measures related to energy and the green transition, in the context of additional costs related to the conflict in Ukraine.
