Successful negotiations with the EU on intensifying Poland's support in aid efforts for Ukraine
17.03.2022
Dragoş Pîslaru, Chairman of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee (EMPL), and Younous Omarjee, Chairman of the Regional Development Committee (REGI), understand the situation regarding the influx of people fleeing the war in Ukraine very well, according to the Development Funds and Regional Policy Minister Grzegorz Puda. After meeting with them in Brussels, he said that they had pledged all their help in working out the next package of changes to the cohesion policy regulations, the kind that Poland needs and expects in order to effectively help Ukraine. The Minister also met with Commissioners Elisa Ferreira and Nicolas Schmit.
Commissioners Elisa Ferreira and Nicolas Schmit understand the current situation in Poland. Both thanked the Polish government and Poles for their unprecedented commitment to helping those fleeing the war. Commissioners announced a special package to make the rules of cohesion policy more flexible. The package will be adopted as a matter of urgency by the EU Council and the EP,
Minister Grzegorz Puda reported after the meeting.
CARE (Cohesion's Actions for Refugees in Europe -CARE) refers to such changes to the Cohesion Policy regulations that will help make it easier and faster to use funds from the 2014-2020 perspective for activities related to helping people fleeing war.
The EC is also working on technical assistance that will be available to Poland for activities related to assistance for persons fleeing Ukraine.
The European Commission, as communicated by Commissioners Ferreira and Schmit, is sympathetic to Poland's demands for rapid work on another package allowing easier and more flexible use of individual funds.
Poland showed its proposals, which met with the interest of the EC,
Grzegorz Puda stresses.
The EC is proposing to use available funds under REACT EU, followed by mobilizing more funds to support Poland and other countries providing assistance to those fleeing the war. The EC also wants to complete the negotiations of the Partnership Agreement as soon as possible, so that funds from the new financial perspective are also used in accordance with the needs of the current situation.
The EC has agreed to transfer EUR 2 billion from the ESF+ to the Cohesion Fund to be used for climate-related activities, as requested by Poland. The EC also agreed to Poland's proposed ESF allocation for higher education for 2021-2027, and to support child psychiatry as requested by Poland.