This year's EEC Online edition opened a discussion with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economic Development, Labour and Technology Jarosław Gowin on the subject of Polish Deal, among others.

We have set up an inter-ministerial team to work on deregulation, headed by Minister Anna Kornecka. Digitization, simplification of rules, removal of barriers, faster decision-making, electronic submission of applications are the most important elements of the deregulation laws developed at the ministry. Simplification of the construction process is our priority within the framework of the Polish order. We also want to transfer the rules to official practice, not just to keep them on paper – Minister Jarosław Gowin said.

The discussion also focused on the Industrial Policy of Poland. 

In cooperation with the business Community and experts, we are developing the Industrial Policy of Poland, in which we have included sectoral activities targeted at specific sectors. We have identified several traditional and new industries with the highest development potential for which we are preparing specific industry contracts. The state should apply the principle of subsidiarity with respect to economy. But geopolitical and energy security, especially in Poland's position, requires state activities and intervention - Deputy Prime Minister Gowin added.

The goal of the Polish government and the regulations developed in the MEDLT is to increase the long-term potential of the Polish economy. One of the instruments for its implementation is the National Reconstruction Plan. The main areas for implementing the NRP are resilience and competitiveness of the economy, green energy and energy efficiency reduction and digital transformation.

The consultation of the NRP is ongoing and will go on the entire time the instrument operates. It is a new instrument and the entire Europe is just learning. We maintain an ongoing dialogue with entrepreneurs and self-governments, and this will undoubtedly affect the shape of the NRP, but it is not the end. It will be possible to make corrections to this document in the course of the tasks - said Deputy Minister Robert Tomanek during the discussions on the NRP at ECC Online.

Another challenge of post-pandemic development in Poland is the digitization of public administration, which was discussed at ECC during the Cyber Poland 2025 debate. The panel was attended by Deputy Minister Olga Semeniuk.

During the near 1.5 years of the pandemic, we have moved approximately 5 years forward in the digital transformation process, including in the area of e-government and e-economy. Many business-related ideas, such as e-invoice and reporting changes to the National Court Register, cannot be carried out via biznes.gov.pl. In result of these activities, Poland has moved up from the 31st to the 9th position within the UN e-participation ranking in just two years. The challenges related to the NRP and the Polish governance are reflected in the digitization process and economy 4.0. For instance, within the ministry we have developed the Polish Incubator of Crafts which is intended to support micro-enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises in the craft sector, also with respect to access to e-services. We are also working on e-solutions in the construction sector - Minister Semenuk stressed.

Deputy Minister Anna Kornecka emphasized the role of renewable energy and energy efficient construction for the Polish economy during two speeches at ECC Online

Poland is at the beginning of the second phase of energy transformation. We are rapidly expanding RES, the Prosumer segment is growing extensively, we are however constrained by the flexibility of the distribution and the transmission networks as well as the costs of upgrading the network. The new EU perspective, combined with the Green Deal document package, indicates the natural direction of development: beginning at renewable sources, through energy management and storage, to joint action for cheap, accessible and clean energy - said Deputy Minister Kornecka.

Another goal of the NRP is to reduce energy intensity, achievable in the framework of the green new building, including the thermal upgrading of existing residential buildings.

The pandemic did not stop the green revolution. The energy efficiency requirements for buildings in Poland are set in a manner that after 31 December 2020, all new buildings will become nearly zero energy buildings. At the same time, investments in renovation of buildings contribute to reducing the cost of living, have a positive impact on the health of users, improving the environment and have a good impact on the development of the economy, among others by stimulating the use of increasingly modern solutions - Anna Kornecka said.

Deputy Minister Marek Niedużak in turn participated in the discussion on “New Life for Businesses - restructuring of the response to financial problems caused by the pandemic.” The main topic of the meeting was the simplified restructuring procedure provided for under Shield 4.0. The new procedure has been well assessed by entrepreneurs and restructuring advisers. The level of protection of the debtor and the creditor was balanced - in 2020 it was the most common type of restructuring procedure.

Retransmissions of the lectures and information on the European Economic Congress at https://www.eecpoland.eu/2021/pl/