BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission is working on a plan to unfreeze 111 billion euros in EU funds for Poland, as the new Polish government takes steps to address the EU’s concerns about the rule of law, European Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn said on Wednesday.
The new centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government was sworn in on Wednesday, marking a significant shift after eight years of nationalist rule.
Following years of tensions between Warsaw and Brussels under the previous government, led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, Tusk’s appointment has raised hopes of improved relations with the European Union.
“We have a lot of expectations and we will certainly support him (Tusk) in his efforts,” Hahn told Reuters in an interview.
“We’re not talking about an immediate transfer of billions — it’s more about unblocking the funds. We have to see how to proceed,” he said. “I’m sure that we will find ways to help Poland. We don’t have any doubts that they are moving in the right direction in terms of the rule of law,” he said.
Hahn’s comments represent the first official acknowledgement from the Commission regarding Poland’s potential access to the EU funds since the change in government. Tusk arrived in Brussels on Wednesday for an EU summit and will discuss the frozen funds with the Commission on the sidelines.
Poland’s access to 35.4 billion euros ($38.1 billion) in grants and loans from the EU’s recovery fund has been suspended until Warsaw restores the independence of its judiciary system, which was undermined by the previous PiS government.
The same concerns are also affecting Poland’s access to 76.5 billion euros ($82.5 billion) of EU cohesion funds, which are intended to improve living standards in the EU’s poorer regions.
Poland will need to enact new laws to address some of the Commission’s demands to reverse measures implemented by the previous nationalist government.
However, the new laws will need the approval of Poland’s President Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the former government and has indicated he would not support them.
Duda’s term ends in mid-2025, posing a challenge for the Tusk government. Hahn said the Commission would collaborate with Warsaw to find a solution to the problem.
“How this can be accomplished is beyond my current knowledge. But we certainly will not wait one and a half years, so I think there must be a kind of solution,” he said.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
