EU Commission approval for Polish recovery plan “in days or a week” – Dombrovskis

Poland and the European Commission are finalising work on changes to the Polish recovery plan that would enable commission approval for it in days or a week, commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told a news conference on Tuesday.

The commission has withheld its approval for the Polish plan since the second quarter of 2021 because of concerns over the independence of the country’s judiciary from the euro-sceptic and nationalist ruling PiS party and Warsaw’s refusal to carry out the rulings of the EU court.

“Work is ongoing. We are finalising this work. … Without being able to say with 100% certainty, because there had been some false dawns before, it is feasible that we will finalise this work in the nearest days or a week,” Dombrovskis said.

Under the recovery plan, Poland could get 23.9 billion euros in EU grants over several years and 11.5 billion euros in cheap loans for the transformation of the economy after the pandemic to make it more green and digitalised.

But the commission approval of the Polish plan will not entail any immediate disbursements because Poland will first have to reach agreed milestones and targets.