The National Reconstruction Plan (KPO) is a plan of reforms that Poland must implement in order to receive funds for their implementation. Therefore, there will not be a single moment when all the funds provided for Poland will be unlocked. They will be paid out gradually, tranche by tranche, depending on the applications and subsequent milestones, which are 283 – explained Maciej Sokołowski, TVN24 reporter in Brussels.
On Wednesday, during a conference at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki he stressed that it depends on how fast it goes legislative process of the Act on the Supreme Court will depend on the “financial injection for Poland” for the KPO. The bill was approved by the Sejm and will be considered by the Senate on January 31.
283 KPO milestones
However, as TVN24 reporter in Brussels, Maciej Sokołowski, pointed out, there are much more conditions for receiving EU money.
“There are 283 milestones in the KPO alone, described as 106 reforms (changes in law) and 177 investments. The acts on the judiciary and procedures for disciplining judges have a special status of ‘super milestones’, which means that without their implementation you cannot even send an application for payment. These two stones block the entire program, but their implementation will not unlock all funds” – emphasized Sokolovki.
He explained that “their implementation will allow you to proceed to the first stage, i.e. submitting applications for money from the first planned tranche”. He also pointed out that over a year ago we could also talk about an advance payment, but this option has already been lost.
How to get money from KPO?
What’s next? How should the process of applying for funds from the KPO proceed?
As Sokołowski explained, if the court bills are approved, we proceed to the payment of the first planned tranche. For this to happen, milestones must be achieved, which are described in the annexes prepared by the European Commission to the application for the approval of the Polish KPO.
In order to receive EUR 2,851,148,919 in grants (EUR 2.8 billion), apart from court acts, legislation must be dealt with, including:
– the monitoring committee; – wind farms, – zero/low-emission energy fund, – public finances and the extension of stabilization mechanisms to earmarked funds; – tax credits for robotization and automation in enterprises; – updating the clean air program.
The appendices also include milestones related to strengthening the mechanisms of cooperation between industry and science, support for sustainable water and sewage management in rural areas, and improving the situation of parents on the labor market by increasing access to childcare for children up to the age of three.
“I would like to point out that there is nothing here about the regulations of the Sejm, this requirement is only included in the requirements for the second tranche, which is why the government is ignoring it today,” Sokołowski said.
The first tranche of money from KPO
“In addition, there is also the first tranche of the loan in the amount of EUR 1,368,535,211 (EUR 1.35 billion). Here we will find milestones related mainly to energy and the environment, but also, for example, geriatric care” – described the TVN24 reporter.
He added that “in total, the first tranche envisaged is EUR 4.1 billion”, and “there are 9 such tranches and each is described in a similar way and in detail”, so “if we want more money, we have to implement further reforms”.
National Recovery Plan (KPO)
June 1, 2022 the European Commission after more than a year of negotiations, it accepted Polish National Reconstruction Plan. On June 17, the Polish KPO was approved by the EU Member States. The decision was taken at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg.
There are conditions in the KPO, i.e. the so-called milestones, on the fulfillment of which the EC makes the payment of funds to Poland from the EU Reconstruction Fund to support member states in overcoming the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The KPO assumes, among other things, that Poland must implement reforms regarding the judiciary. In KPO, Poland applied for EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans.