EU Commissioner censors Poland for pathetic use of environment fund

Poland has managed to make use of just 1.5% of the available money for protecting the environment from the EU ISPA Fund. "Strengthen the offices responsible for preparation of projects! Improve the coordination of the state with the local authorities! Otherwise you will not manage to utilize larger funds available in the next few years," said the EU Commissioner responsible for the natural environment, Margot Wallstrom. The Commissioner, who was on an official visit to Warsaw, confirmed that the National Environment Protection Fund (NFOŚ) over the last four years used just zł. 10 million out of zł. 692 million that was available to it. The Polish government argued that the delays were chiefly due to the lack of experience in the area, a problem which has now been overcome. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) M.K.