Minister Puda met with the EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Nicolas Schmit and the Director General of DG REGIO at the European Commission, Normunds Popens on Wednesday in Brussels.

Poland is working intensively to prepare for the launch of the programme implementation. We have received advance payments from the European Commission for the implementation of programmes in the 2021-2027 perspective, amounting to approximately PLN 8.4 billion

- Minister for Development Funds and Regional Policy, Grzegorz Puda emphasised during the meetings.

Poland's support for Ukraine

Minister G. Puda spoke with EU Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Nicolas Schmit about planned activities and support for Ukraine from EU programmes - the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Our goal is to enable people fleeing war to adapt in Poland, find their place in the local community and successfully search for work

- the head of the MDFRP also stressed.

Minister G. Puda pointed out that most of the direct support takes place at the regional level (more than EUR 110 million from the ROP funds have been allocated for this purpose, under the OP KED the amount has reached about EUR 20 million).

The minister informed that under the new perspective, the regions had planned to spend around EUR 230 million on the socio-economic integration of third-country nationals. Also under the European Funds for Social Development (EFSD) programme, systemic measures are foreseen to support foreigners in the labour market, in the amount of approximately EUR 12.5 million.

Implementation of programmes from the Financial Perspective 2021-2027

During a meeting with Normunds Popens, Director General of DG REGIO at the EC, the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy discussed the status of the launch of the programmes under the new perspective 2021-2027.

The Head of the MDFRP informed that monitoring committees adopt project selection criteria, the first calls for proposals are launched, the first projects are evaluated and the first agreements for subsidies are concluded.

Under the national and regional programmes for 2021-2027, 97 calls have already been launched,  with a budget of PLN 25.4 billion. 394 project financing applications were submitted - with the total value of PLN 10.4 billion, of which subsidies amounted to PLN 7.3 billion. 32 agreements were concluded for co-funding of projects worth PLN 1.9 billion of eligible expenditure, of which PLN 1.6 billion is the EU contribution.

During the discussions with Director Popens, the head of the MDFRP also raised a possibility of extending the Interreg Lithuania-Poland programme to include the Olsztyn sub-region and a one-off transfer of funds remaining from the Interreg Poland-Russia programme to this programme.

European Year of Skills

The visit to Brussels also provided an opportunity to discuss the European Commission initiative concerning the European Year of Skills. It will aim to develop competence tailored to the needs of the labour market. The MDFRP is actively involved in promoting the event and organising various celebrations as part of the initiative. One example is EuroSkills 2023, to be held in Gdańsk in September.