The European Parliament must explain the issue of blocking post-pandemic funds for Poland, says MP Waldemar Buda, a development minister in the last conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party government.
“In the next term of office of the European Parliament, a special
commission must be established to explain how it is possible that funds
from the National Recovery Plan (KPO) for Poland were blocked for a year and a half,” said Buda on Monday.
The blocking of EU funds was widely believed to be tied to pressure
applied by Brussels to bring down the conservative government in the
lead up to national elections. With the new left-liberal government in
power, the EU has raced to send the funds to Poland.
The current regional policy and funds minister, Katarzyna
Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, announced on Monday that Poland received an EU
payment from the first post-pandemic funds application of approximately
€6 billion. This transfer has been labeled the biggest in history by
mainstream media in Poland.
Former development minister in the PiS government, Waldemar Buda, was
asked on Monday at a press conference in the Sejm whether he would
apologize for the years when funds from the EU did not reach Poland.
He replied that during the next term, the European Parliament “will
have to explain how it was possible that collusion between the European
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the candidate for prime minister in Poland, Donald Tusk,
led to a year and a half of delays. A special commission must be
established at the level of the European Parliament to explain this,” he
said.
The delay, according to Buda, will mean that Poland is unlikely to use up its full allocation of funding.
“People who blocked the funds should be held to account,” he said.
PiS politicians claim that the European Commission has been
withholding payments from the National Recovery Plan (KPO) for political
reasons. Decision-makers in Brussels wanted to influence the outcome of
the elections in Poland in October 2023, in which the alliance of left-liberal parties supported by Brussels won.
The conditions for paying the funds had actually been met by June
2022 when the Polish president’s proposed legislation on judicial reform
had been passed. The fact that they continued to be held up is because
of an arrangement between Donald Tusk and Ursula von der Leyen, claims
Buda.
Poland is to receive €59.8 billion (268 billion zlotys), including
€25.27 billion (113.28 billion zlotys) in the form of subsidies, and
€34.54 billion (154.81 billion zlotys) in preferential loans. In line
with EU objectives, a significant proportion of the funds are to be
spent on climate goals (46.6 percent), digital transformation (21.3
percent), and social reforms (22.3 percent).
Source: Remix News
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Author: Planet Today
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