Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz and the MDFRP leadership summarised the first 100 days of the Ministry’s work after the 15 October 2023 elections today.

One hundred days of the government’s rule are behind us. We started with a full blockade of EU funds, both structural and NRP ones, and we are at the point where PLN 600 billion is to be invested and this investing is already happening,

Minister for Development Funds and Regional Policy Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz said.

Minister Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz stressed that there was a lot of work to be done on the NRP to make up for the more than two-year delay in its implementation. Hence also the work on its revision. The draft amendments are currently out for public consultation. 

The NRP and structural funds are the largest development project in Poland today. There have been many meetings with all ministries to determine the optimal direction of how to change the NRP. We are setting three fundamental development directions in the revision: food security, Polish wind power plants and the Green Deal, which is not implemented for ideological purposes, it is for Poles. Among other things, it is supposed to regulate the issue of cars so that people would like to buy electric cars rather than be penalised for the cars they drive today,

the Minister explained.

Speaking about future work plans, the head of the MDFRP said that Poland would receive money from the first NRP payment application in early April this year; negotiations with the EC on the NRP revision will continue; and further applications for cohesion policy payments will be sent to the Commission in May.

We are turning off the taps as much as possible to fund the investments that are already in place: nurseries, farmers, broadband. In April, we will launch further calls under the NRP, including the project that is most eagerly awaited by local authorities: more than PLN 30 billion for Polish cities for their green transformation,

Minister K. Pełczyńska-Nałęcz informed.

National Recovery Plan and Cohesion Policy in 100 days

With the release of NRP funds, we have accelerated the implementation of measures. Approximately PLN 1.5 billion has been distributed to beneficiaries since January this year. We invested money in Clean Air, nurseries, small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector and broadband.

The MDFRP’s aim is to have the remaining investments up and running as soon as possible. We plan to implement the remaining projects by the end of the year.

We have launched calls in 29 investments for 29.5 per cent of the NRP funds so far. This applies to 27 investments for 67.2 per cent of the value of the grant part of the NRP and 2 investments for 2 per cent of the NRP funds in the loan part.

In the case of 13 grant investments, we signed agreements with final recipients of support for PLN 20.8 billion (18.36 per cent of the NRP funds in the grant part). In February alone, we concluded contracts worth more than PLN 2.9 billion.

We announced 319 calls under national and regional programmes with the budget of PLN 35.8 billion in the last 100 days.

Requests for payments under the NRP

Poland will receive more than PLN 27 billion (around EUR 6.3 billion) in EU reimbursements from the first payment claim this April. This money will systematically go to the beneficiaries, i.e. to enterprises, farmers, schools and local government units.

The funds from the first NRP payment request will be used for the following investments among other things:

• Clean Air – subsidising the thermal efficiency improvement of single-family residential buildings, replacing old heat sources with new ones;
• improving rail traffic safety – e.g. upgrading level crossings;
• vouchers for laptops for teachers;
• investment in transport safety – e.g. modernisation of dangerous points, construction of bypasses and installation of traffic surveillance equipment;
• digitisation of transport – introduction of modern digital solutions (e.g. ERTMS, remote control, traffic management systems);
• equipment and modernisation of infrastructure in the agri-food sector;
• support for the vocational training system;
• funding for childcare for children up to the age of three – nurseries and children’s clubs;
• access to superfast Internet in dead zones.

By the end of the year, funds from the second and third payment applications are likely to be received (submission planned in August this year) – is close to PLN 50 billion (EUR 11.5 billion).

We still plan to submit two more payment claims, the fourth and the fifth one, by the end of the year. The amount of co-financing is estimated to amount to approximately PLN 54 billion (EUR 12.5 billion). The funds from these proposals will come into the budget as early as 2025.

Given the acceleration in the pace of NRP disbursements, we estimate that at least additional PLN 12 billion will be spent in 2024 on launching and implementing investments. We want to allocate a similar amount to projects financed by NRP loans.

Revision of the NRP

On 15 March this year, we launched a public consultation on the revision of the NRP, which will be open until 15 April this year. The proposed changes are the result of work on reviewing reforms and investments under the NRP, which we at the MDFRP have been conducting since January this year. The review cover 11 reforms and 22 investments.

A public hearing will be held on 8 April this year to review the NRP. The changes are scheduled to be adopted by the Council of Ministers on 23 April this year. We will then formally submit the new version of the NRP to Brussels. The revised EU Council Executive Decision that will approve the changes to the NRP is scheduled for adoption by ECOFIN on 16 July this year.