“We will respond with our own scheme to the absence of the National Recovery Plan funds. We will carry out every provision of the National Recovery Plan anyway,” Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Piotr Gliński told the “Sieci” weekly.

Poland to apply for EU recovery funding in late Oct/early Nov

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Although the European Commission had approved Poland’s National Recovery Plan (KPO) on June 1, the bloc did not transfer the due EUR 35.4 billion claiming that Poland has not met its commitments regarding judicial reforms. But many see the move as an attempt at undermining the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party’s voter support ahead of the 2023 parliamentary elections in a bid to oust the group.

“We signed up for the [National Recovery] Plan, we met the requirements, we respected the agreements but the money is still being blocked,” Deputy PM Gliński said.

“What is the National Recovery Plan? It is a joint union loan. If it was blocked solely due to political reasons, let us consider borrowing money from elsewhere. How about Asia? Since there are options, we ought to consider them,” Mr Gliński reasoned.

The official went on to say that at the foundation of the blockade of the National Recovery Fund lay “primitive unconcealed blackmail designed to enforce a change of the government.”

“We have seen through and we will not wait for such illegal actions to bear fruit. We have our democratic mandate, which has been renewed many times over, we have our leader – a tough statesman who knows international relations in and out, and is capable of leading its country out of such situations,” Deputy PM Gliński said, adding that the government had taken a risk of the EU “cheating it” into account.

The government would come up with its own recovery plan in the absence of the EU one, the official said. “I will not tell you its name or composition today. Nevertheless, it’s obvious that we won’t let go of developments and investments. We will carry out every provision of the National Recovery Plan anyway.”

Despite the European Commission’s approval of Poland’s KPO on June 1, the EC President, Ursula Von der Leyen, said that Poland must meet its commitments regarding judicial reforms before it can receive any money from the recovery fund.

Initially designed for 2021-27, the KPO is worth EUR 35.4 billion, including EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans.