European Union. First day of the summit. Mateusz Morawiecki and Ursula von der Leyen about the findings

The Prime Minister said at the press conference that funds from the European Peace Fund were one of the topics of the talks.

– This is a fund specially created to finance arms purchases, which are then used for defence Ukraine. Poland allocated some equipment, mainly older, post-Soviet equipment, to Ukraine. Instead, we buy excellent Western and domestic equipment, such as Kraby or Rosomaki, said Morawiecki.

– We are also increasing the defense potential of Poland through our own domestic production, and this is the purpose of the funds obtained by Poland from the EPF (European Peace Facility) fund – he added.

So far, he added, it has been about PLN 200 million for Poland. – But very good news, in about 2-3 weeks, I think, that’s what we were promised here, it will be another EUR 200 million, i.e. about a billion zlotys, which we will allocate to defense policy from European money – emphasized the head of the government.

– I also sought this and my voice was very strong that this fund should be larger, that it should not be EUR 3.5 billion, but that it should be significantly larger – said Morawiecki.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, also spoke at a separate press conference. She announced the mobilization of EUR 56 million to support farmers in frontline countries who have to face the market consequences of the appearance of a large amount of agri-food products from Ukraine on the EU market.

– I would like to highlight the success of the solidarity corridors that allow Ukraine to export large quantities of grain and agri-food products. (…) In this context, it is important that we help our farmers in the EU who have to face the consequences of the market. A lot of grain goes to the European market, which affects prices, she said.

– So the frontline countries that help the most within the framework of solidarity corridors should not suffer from negative consequences. As a first step, we mobilized more than EUR 56 million from the agricultural reserve. This is not enough – this was clearly expressed in the discussion. (…) We will work to increase this sum for farmers in frontline countries, added the head of the European Commission.