Following a recommendation from the EU Commission, the Council of the European Union has approved Poland's amended recovery and resilience plan. The decision also greenlights an advance payment of 5 billion euro for Poland from the REPowerEU, earmarked to support the country's departure from fossil fuels and green transition.
On 31 August 2023, Poland submitted its amended recovery and resilience plan, which includes a REPowerEU chapter.
The modified plan allocates 46.6% of funds, up from 42.7% in the original plan, to support the green transition, while Poland has also planned for 21.3% of the available funds to contribute to the digital transition.
"EU ministers of finance adopted implementing decision approving the recovery and resilence plan of Poland," Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union said on the X social media platform on Friday (Dec.8). "The plan includes #RepowerEU chapter focuses on supporting the energy transition and joining forces for a more resilient energy system."
The European Commission had issued its approval back in November.
Advance payment from RePowerEU
Poland will receive an advance payment of more than 5 billion euro from the REPowerEU program, earmarked to support the country's departure from fossil fuels and green transition. "These funds will be used to renovate electrical grids in rural areas, building energy storage facilities, and construction of 250 kilometers of gas pipeline from Gdańsk towards south of Poland," TVN24 Brussels correspondent Maciej Sokołowski said.
He added that the approval of the modified plan and the advance payment did not mean that all Polish funds from the RFF were unlocked. In order to receive the full amount of nearly 60 billion euro, Poland still needs to fulfil the so-called "super milestones" related with Polish judiciary.
"The Commission is still waiting for changes to the disciplinary procedures for the Polish judges, without which the Polish government is not even allowed to send the first payment request," Sokołowski said.
The European Commission said in a statement released in November that the "three 'super milestones' related to strengthening important aspects of the independence of the Polish judiciary and the use of Arachne, an IT tool that supports Member States in their anti-fraud activities, remain unchanged in Poland's revised plan".
"This means that no disbursement following a payment request under the RRF is possible until Poland has satisfactorily fulfilled these three 'super milestones,'" the Commission underscored.
The total contribution available to Poland is €59.8 billion, with €34.5 billion in loans and €25.3 billion in grants. The plan includes 55 reforms and 56 investements.
The recovery and resilience facility (RRF) is the EU’s programme of large-scale financial support in response to the challenges the pandemic has posed to the European economy. It is the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU, a temporary recovery instrument that allows the Commission to raise funds to help repair the immediate economic and social damage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, TVN24, consilium.europa.eu
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