We are among the most successful countries in Europe in terms of raising EU funds. Poland is a reliable partner for the European Commission, which emphasises that the winner in competitions is the country that presents mature project proposals and implements the planned projects on time

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

The Minister emphasised that Poland is the country which uses the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funds in the transport sector to the greatest extent  among EU countries and is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the second CEF call.

Our country will receive more than 15 per cent of the funds from this pan-European competition concerning transport development - nearly EUR 1 billion, i.e., over PLN 4 billion, for the implementation of 11 projects.

This is a huge success, given that in the second competition we were significantly ahead of large European countries such as France and Germany, and the countries submitting applications include countries that were virtually not awarded any funding - said Minister G. Puda.

Second CEF call

In the call conducted from 13 September 2022 to 18 January 2023, a total of 384 project proposals were submitted from all countries within the general and cohesion envelope (cohesion fund). 338 proposals met the formal admissibility and eligibility requirements (286 from the general envelope and 52 from the cohesion envelope).

After the evaluation, 107 projects were selected to receive CEF financial support in the amount of EUR 6.2 billion. Funding will be provided to 80 projects from the general envelope in the amount of EUR 3.6 billion and 27 projects from the cohesion envelope in the amount of EUR 2.6 billion.

11 Polish projects with CEF support worth over PLN 4 billion

As a result of the second CEF Transport call for proposals, 11 projects involving Polish beneficiaries will receive funding of approx. EUR 977 million, i.e., over PLN 4 billion.  

5 Polish projects will receive subsidies from the Cohesion Pool for the total amount of EUR 638 million. These include three railway projects and two maritime projects.

Out of the total pool, 6 Polish projects will receive the support for the total amount of EUR 339 million. Support will be granted to 2 Polish-Ukrainian railway and road projects, the Rail Baltica project connecting Poland with the Baltic States, and 3 multilateral projects.

An example of an investment that will receive funds from the national envelope is the PKP PLK S.A. project. The support will amount to EUR 362 million. The investment involves works on the main passenger routes (E 30 and E 65) in the Silesian Voivodeship. Stage I is the E 65 line on the section Zabrzeg-Zebrzydowice (state border). This is a continuation of a project already implemented under the CEF 1 funding. Thanks to its implementation, by the end of 2027 the E65 railway line will be modernised mostly to the southern border of our country.

Another important investment that will receive support from the national envelope is the project of the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny Sp. z o.o. (Solidarity Transport Hub), entitled “Development of project documentation for the construction of a high-speed railway in the CNC North Sea-Baltic Sea corridor on the section Warsaw - Łódź Niciarniana” (without the STH Junction), which received the support of over EUR 63 million.

After the second CEF Transport call for proposals, the utilisation of the Polish national envelope (70 per cent) is 95 per cent. A total of EUR 101 million remains to be used in the third call (autumn 2023).