Poland to get EUR 5.1 bln from EU reserve - minister

Poland will receive EUR 5.1 bln from the so-called performance reserve that is paid out to member states for efficient utilisation of EU funds for 2014-2020, regardless of a potential Brexit, Investment Minister Jerzy Kwieciński announced on Wednesday.

Kwieciński was speaking at the Impact'19 economic conference held in the southern city of Kraków.

To support his claim, the minister quoted a written assurance sent to the ministry by the European Commission, which is the EU's executive arm.

Last year Poland "was working really hard to meet the performance reserve criteria" in both quantitative and qualitative indicators, Kwieciński said.

The performance reserve is a bonus paid out to individual member states for efficient investment of EU funds in the 2014-2020 financial perspective. Six percent of all the funds available to Poland have been "frozen" to form the reserve for the country.

Of the total EUR 5.1 bln, EUR 1.9 bln is to be spent on regional programmes and EUR 3.2 bln on national programmes. Until recently there had been concerns that when the United Kingdom leaves the EU the reserve could be transferred to cover the budget gap caused by Brexit.

Minister Kwieciński said that Poland is "an absolute leader" in EU funds spending. "Poland uses all European funds well and all the money transferred by the European Commission has remained in Poland," he stressed.

He also said that Poland has been in "intensive" talks with the European Commission and other member states on the shape of the EU's next multi-year budget to ensure favourable financial solutions for the country despite Britain's potential exit from the bloc.