On Thursday, the eighth Polish-Czech intergovernmental consultation took place in Katowice as part of the regular meetings between the Polish and Czech authorities. They were attended by the Prime Ministers of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki and the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala and the heads of ministries of both governments. 

The Polish-Czech intergovernmental consultations are an extremely important instrument for the development of strategic cooperation between our countries

- said the Minister of Development Funds and Regional Policy, Grzegorz Puda during a meeting with the Minister for Regional Development of the Czech Republic, Ivan Bartoš.

The Minister of Development Funds emphasised the importance of cooperation between the countries of the region, as demonstrated by, among others, the Visehrad Group. The Czech Republic took over the V4 presidency this year and Poland will hold the presidency from July 2024.

Minister Grzegorz Puda said that the cohesion policy is one of the most important EU policies and both Poland and the Czech Republic are its beneficiaries. In the minister's opinion, the cohesion policy should be tailored to the territorial development of individual countries.

Particularly now when, as a result of the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the economic situation of the Visehrad countries is affected by many new and unexpected challenges that we have to face, closing the disproportions and the distance between our regions and those in Western Europe is particularly important

- said the head of the MDFRP. He further stressed:

The place-based approach should remain an integral part of the cohesion policy It is of unquestionable value in addressing the diversified growth and development challenges faced by European regions.

The Minister pointed out that the cohesion policy should also be flexible, both at the programming stage and at later phases, when it may need to be adapted to changing circumstances and new conditions. According to the head of the MDFRP, the “do no harm to cohesion” principle should underpin all place-based EU instruments and policies.

Just Transition Fund

Poland is the largest beneficiary of the Just Transition Fund in the entire EU. It amounts to nearly EUR 4 billion to mitigate the adverse effects of the energy transition in regions where the economy relies heavily on the mining industry and conventional energy generation.

During his talks with Minister Bartoš, Minister Puda emphasised that the JTF is an adequate tool to support the just transition process, although, as he pointed out, its scope should be better adapted to the specific nature of the regions in the energy transition process.

We see the need to develop more favourable solutions for expanding the scope of expenditure subject to JTF support and speeding up the certification of JTF resources

- Minister Puda indicated.

Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2025

The meeting between Minister Puda and Minister Bartoš was also an opportunity to exchange experience on the organisation of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the area of regional development, which Poland will take over in the first half of 2025.

The Czech Republic held the presidency of the Council in the second half of 2022 and our country is keen to benefit from the Czech experience and good practice in preparing and providing the presidency.