Jourova on unblocked EU funds for Poland: in fact there was not much to be done

The European Commission has made two important decisions regarding unlocking EU funds for Poland - one pertains to the National Recovery Plan, the other - the Cohesion Plan. Overall, Poland in s to receive approx. 600 billion zlotys.

EU Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency Vera Jourova shared more details regarding the issue in an interview for TVN24 correspondent Maciej Sokołowski.

"Indeed, today is an important day – the 29^th of February – but it’s important because the Commission recognized the action plan of Poland which contains important conditions for unblocking the recovery funds. To be precise, the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It means that we can disburse 6.3 billion out of the whole number of almost 60 billion of funds," she said.

Asked what has made the EU to change its mind, Jourova said: "There were clear conditions in the agreement between the Commission and Poland from, I think, July 2022." "And what has been done? What led to the decision? First of all, it’s the reform of the disciplinary regime for judges; and the second – it’s the use of the so-called Arachne, which is the IT tool to deal better with fraud cases," she explained.

"Well, in fact there was not much to be done, especially the change of the disciplinary regime was already contained in the law presented in president Duda some time ago," she underscored.

"So this is the case and the Commission did a very proper assessment of the changes and so we decided to unblock the money."

Poland is set receive 59.8 billion euros (approx. 268 billion zlotys) from the National Recovery Plan and 76 billion euros (approx. 340 billion zlotys) as part of the EU cohesion policy for 2021-2027.

Poland's recovery plan includes 56 investments and 55 reforms aimed at strengthening Polish economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH VERA JOUROVA BELOW