21:59 2 September 2021
Poland will not receive EU funds for reconstruction as long as it challenges the primacy of EU law
The European Commission suspends the approval of the Polish National Reconstruction Plan and, as a consequence, payments from the EU Reconstruction Fund, inter alia, due to the questioning by the government in Warsaw of the primacy of EU law and referring the matter to the Constitutional Tribunal, Paolo Gentiloni, the EU commissioner for economic affairs, admitted, quoted by Reuters.
In the case of most EU countries, this program has long been approved by the EU, and the first installments of EU support have already flowed to EU capitals. So far, the Commission has approved the NAPs of 18 Member States.
Under the Instrument for Reconstruction and Resilience (IRR), the main NG EU instrument, Poland is entitled to an amount of approximately €58 billion (€23.9 billion in non-repayable grants and €34.2 billion in the form of loans).
The main reasons why the Commission is delaying the approval of the Polish and Hungarian NCPs are doubts about the independence of the judiciary in these countries and the freedom of the media. However, undermining the primacy of EU law is an issue that further influences the EC's decision to suspend the approval of the plan and payments from the Reconstruction Fund, Gentiloni told the European Parliament's budget committee.
