The Partnership Agreement is the most important document defining the areas of investment of the European Funds in Poland in the period 2021-2027. It responds to Polish development needs. It relates to EUR 76 billion from the EU cohesion policy and the Fair Transformation Fund. It represents more than 20% of cohesion policy resources in the entire European Union.

Thanks to the cooperation of all Cohesion Policy stakeholders, the programming process for the 2021-2027 perspective was successfully completed last year. All programmes at both national and regional level were approved and have received their first advance payments from the EU budget

said the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Grzegorz Puda opening the meeting.

We have been benefiting from the European funds for almost 20 years now and also in this perspective Poland will remain the largest beneficiary of cohesion policy among all EU Member States.

Negotiation successes

We have obtained EC approval for transfers between categories of regions. As a result of these transfers, we particularly wanted to support the Wielkopolskie and Lower Silesia voivodeships as well as the Warsaw region. We wanted to keep the level of investment high, therefore we negotiated with the EC the transfer of funds from the allocation of less developed regions,

emphasised the Secretary of State, Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak.

The total transfer of EUR 3.5 billion represents 6.23% of the allocation of the original category of a less developed region.

We have also obtained the EC approval for transfers of funds to the Cohesion Fund. This is a special fund for us, which allows us to develop transport and care for the environment. Ultimately, after long negotiations, we managed to negotiate a transfer of 13.4% of the ESF+ allocation, i.e. EUR 2 billion. It is the highest level of transfer in the EU compared to other Member States, such as: Romania 11%, Czech Republic 10%, Hungary 10%.

Financial decentralisation of the cohesion policy is also one of the negotiating successes. Local governments will manage as much as 44 per cent of the funds available to Poland. Compared to the previous perspective, the regions will receive a higher allocation - EUR 33.5 billion for 2021-2027. This is the highest level of decentralisation of funds since Poland's accession to the European Union and demonstrates how the role of local authorities in shaping cohesion policy and their shared responsibility for its implementation is gradually increasing.

Another of the important negotiating topics was the implementation of the new fund, the Just Transition Fund.

We were also successful in our negotiations and increased the territorial scope of co-financing from this fund for Poland. It will cover not only the voivodeships of Silesia, Lower Silesia and Wielkopolska, but also the Łódź and Małoposkie voivodeships. This amounts to nearly EUR 4 billion to mitigate the negative effects of the energy transition in regions where the economy relies heavily on the mining industry and conventional energy,

Minister Grzegorz Puda added.

What will the European funds be invested in?

During the meeting, the objectives of the cohesion policy were presented. Poland will also focus on achieving these 6 objectives.

• A more competitive and smarter Europe - EUR 12.95 billion
• A greener, low-carbon Europe - EUR 21.89 billion
• A better connected Europe - EUR 15.74 billion
• A more social Europe - EUR 16.64 billion
• Bringing the Europe closer to the citizens - EUR 2.42 billion
• Just transition - EUR 3.69 billion

During the meeting, the Rules of Procedure of the Partnership Agreement Committee for 2021-2027 were adopted. In this financial perspective, this body is made up of almost 130 members representing the central government, local governments and partners from outside the administration.

Representatives of the European Commission Emma Toledano-Laredo, Director of Implementation at the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) and Muriel Guin, Head of Unit for Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) attended the kick-off meeting of the Partnership Agreement Committee as observers.

Director Emma Toledano-Laredo of the EC appreciated the establishment of the Partnership Agreement Committee, which is not a mandatory body in the EU, but ensures the implementation of the partnership principle. She also assured of Poland's continued support in the implementation of the cohesion policy.

The Partnership Agreement Committee (PAC) is the main body assisting the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy in the process of using the European Union funds. The PAC consists of 129 members representing the central government, local governments and social partners, economic partners and partners representing the civil society and academia, and 3 observers, including representatives of the EC.The PAC coordinates the implementation of all programmes under the Partnership Agreement and checks that EU support delivers the expected results.