EU finance ministers to approve changes to Poland's national recovery plan KPO on Friday
EU finance ministers will approve changes to Poland's national recovery plan KPO on Friday, paving the way for the disbursement of the third tranche of EU funds under the plan. Poland's Minister of Finance Andrzej Domanski said that changes to the KPO on defence will complement the EU's major defence plan.
On Friday, Domanski is chairing a meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg, the last one under Poland's presidency of the EU Council. On July 1, Poland will hand over the presidency to Denmark.
In a conversation with journalists, the finance minister recalled that the priority of the Polish presidency of the EU Council was defence financing. "In this area, we have achieved things (...) that seemed unattainable," he said.
He pointed out that the EU's ReArm Europe rearmament plan is the largest in the history of the Community. It includes the SAFE loan instrument worth EUR 150 billion, as well as, according to Domanski, "significant changes in fiscal rules, their certain loosening, thanks to which member states will be able to spend more on defence."
On Friday, finance ministers will finally approve changes to the Polish national recovery plan KPO, which will see the creation of a Security and Defence Fund; funds worth nearly EUR 6 billion will be transferred to it.
"This programme (...) is a kind of supplement to this large plan," Domanski emphasised. According to him, Poland "was, in a sense, the initiator of these changes."
"For me, it is crucial that these funds are used to strengthen the European, and in particular the Polish, defence industry," he noted.
Under the Security and Defence Fund, money will be allocated to the construction of civil protection infrastructure, i.e. shelters, water and transport connections, the expansion of Polish steelworks and the arms industry, and the construction and renovation of dual-use infrastructure, i.e. roads, railways, landing pads and airports.
Funds from the Fund will also be allocated to investments in cybersecurity, including radars, the protection of Polish data and its secure storage. They cannot be used to finance strictly military purposes.
The EU ministers' approval of changes to the Polish national recovery plan KPO will enable the third tranche of money to be paid out to Poland. According to Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, over PLN 26 billion (EUR 6.1 bln) will be transferred to Poland in August.
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