On Thursday, the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers accepted the draft revision of the National Reconstruction Plan. According to the deputy minister of funds, Jan Szyszko, it will be discussed by the government next week.
“The draft revision of the KPO has already been approved by the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers,” Jan Szyszko, Deputy Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, reported on Thursday on the website X. He added that on Tuesday, January 28 this year. the draft revision will be considered by the government.
What changes have appeared in the KPO?
Szyszko announced on Tuesday that the draft revision had been sent to the Prime Minister's Office. As he said then, the project proposed, among others: increasing the budget of the Energy Support Fund by PLN 1 billion to a total amount of PLN 70 billion. These funds will be invested, among others: in energy networks and energy storage. Moreover, the draft revision includes the early settlement of 10 KPO metrics. “These are reports, analyzes and reports that we prepared ahead of time. Thanks to this, we will invest some of the money in Poland faster,” explained the deputy head of the Ministry of FiPR. One of the most important points of the revision is the replacement of the reform of contributions for civil law contracts, which was included in the KPO reforms by the previous government. According to Szyszko, the goal is to replace it with a “comprehensive reform of the National Labor Inspectorate”. Minister of Funds Katarzyna PeÅ‚czyÅ„ska-NaÅ‚Ä™cz and Deputy Minister Szyszko announced earlier that – in accordance with the Prime Minister's decision – Poland will not meet the KPO milestone assuming contributions for civil law contracts. In December, talks began with the European Commission on replacing the need to pay contributions for contracts with one of alternative proposals, including the above-mentioned reform of the National Labor Inspectorate.
There are two more revisions of the KPO this year
Szyszko announced in mid-January in Brussels that negotiations with the European Commission on changing the reform should be completed within a month. The government will then formally submit to the EC an application to amend the KPO. He also assessed that Poland is “in a good place” when it comes to employee protection. – This means that the reform negotiated by the previous government in the Polish KPO does not apply – he said. As PeÅ‚czyÅ„ska-NaÅ‚Ä™cz reported last year, two technical revisions of the KPO will take place in 2025. The aim of both is to adapt the KPO to current, real needs. In the first revision, the Ministry of FiPR wants to abandon the reform of contributions for civil law contracts. The second one is to start after Poland receives payments from the fourth and fifth payment applications from the KPO. The last revision of the Polish KPO was adopted by the EU Council in mid-July 2024. At that time, the changes included: the obligation to introduce a tax on combustion vehicles and a system of subsidies for the purchase, rental and leasing of electric cars by natural persons.
What is KPO?
National Reconstruction Plan and Increasing Resilience (KPO) is a program that is intended to strengthen the Polish economy. Funds from the program are intended to help Poland achieve previously set goals faster, implement new investments, accelerate economic growth and increase employment. Under the program, Poland receives money in the form of non-repayable grants and preferential loans. After the latest revision, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan consists of 57 investments and 54 reforms. Poland will receive EUR 59.8 billion (PLN 257.1 billion) from the KPO, including EUR 25.27 billion (PLN 108.6 billion) in the form of subsidies and EUR 34.54 billion (PLN 148.5 billion) in the form of preferential loans. In line with EU goals, a significant part of the KPO budget is allocated to climate goals (44.96%) and digital transformation (21.28%).
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