Poland deserves its money because it has worked for it says MFA

Poland should receive money from the EU's post-pandemic recovery funds because it deserves it, a spokesperson of foreign ministry has said.

"This is money that simply belongs to Poland and our society," Lukasz Jasina told a public radio broadcaster.

He said that "Poland has made a huge contribution to the economic success of the European Union, pays contributions and has honestly approached all matters related to the adoption of the European Recovery Plan".

Poland’s access to the multi-billion euro fund, which aims to help member states recover from the pandemic, has been put on hold owing to a rule-of-law dispute.

Jasina added that he hopes that the European Commission will understand there are more important things than "blocking Polish society politically and bringing our society to the brink of economic endurance."

He also commented on the words of Guy Verhofstadt MEP (Renew Europe Group), who tweeted on Monday that Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), wants to get rid of the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, "if she does not pay. We in the European Parliament want to get rid of her if she pays…," Verhofstadt wrote.

In response, Jasina said that "extremism happens everywhere and one should not submit to extremist politicians, but rationally decide about the future of Europe, and such a rational decision would be to pay Poland the money owed to it."

The European Commission approved Poland's national post-pandemic recovery plan (KPO) on June 1. However, Von der Leyen said that Poland must meet its commitments regarding judicial reforms before it can receive any money under KPO.

Originally designed for 2021-27, the KPO is worth EUR 35.4 billion, including EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans.