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The Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy: The EC proposal raises hope

29.05.2020

Following the preliminary analysis, I can observe that the EC proposal raises hope. Firstly, that the negotiations, which are already lingering for months, will finally emerge from the impasse. Secondly, that the cohesion policy will remain an important investment policy of the EU.

Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy

It is undoubtedly more ambitious

The amount of money, earmarked for development-oriented investments is increasing. We have also a proposal of a strong instrument for recovery, which, in line with the Polish proposals,  will  in its majority, be based on grants and not loans.  

More money for  Just Transition Fund

The positive information is also the larger amount of money, dedicated for Just Transition Fund, from which our country is to benefit in particular. The  EC proposal seems to include the needs of the European economy, resulting from the negative consequences of the pandemic but also gives an opportunity for Europe to become more competitive in the future. As regards the documents of this kind, the details are of key importance, for example those explaining on how funds are shifted between different instruments. Therefore, we are currently thoroughly analyzing the EC proposal at the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy.

The money are on one side, the principles on the other

Discussing the  proposals,  unveiled by the EC today, we are referring to amounts of funding. The second issue, however, are the principles of spending those funding. They are both sides of the same coin. At the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, we are already  engaged for many moths in works on drawing up   the  principles for investing the EU cohesion policy funds in the next financial perspective 2021-27. We are currently in the process of preparing the draft of the Partnership Agreement. This document will show us where we will distribute the funding from this policy in the next financial perspective. We want to see the adoption of the Partnership Agreement by the government in the second half of this year. As regards the documents, it will also be necessary to prepare our national recovery plan. This will allow us to use the Recovery Fund, proposed by the EC today.  

Negotiations at the EU forum

Simultaneously, we are conducting negotiations at the EU forum, focusing on the objectives, which are to be supported by the EU funding. Poland has its specific development needs and we are seeking to have them included in the documents, relating to the EU funds for 2021-27. It refers for instance to the possibility of financing gas infrastructure- natural gas should be for Poland  a  linking fuel between coal and renewable energy sources. Therefore, we are seeking the support for those proposals in our talks with the EC and members of the EP.

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