Law and Justice (PiS) is considering the adoption of a law in parliament that would enable Poland to access EU recovery funds, even without the support of their coalition partner, Zbigniew Ziobro’s Solidarity Poland. The law could be supported by part of the opposition.
There is, however, one important condition before work on the legislation begins, an influential PiS politician “with knowledge on the matter” told Rzeczypospolita daily. According to him, the European Commission must provide specific requirements for fulfilling milestones that will “close the issue and be final.”
Leadership within PiS, including its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, approved of this strategy due to economic reasons and the fact that an election year is about to begin.
“The National Recovery Plan is a top priority. Work is underway. There is determination to solve this problem,” said another PiS politician.
The Polish parliament will finalize its work schedule this week, and Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk is to visit Brussels one more time to discuss the aforementioned requirements.
Potential legislative changes could address the judicial independence issue, among others. Zbigniew Ziobro’s political group, amounting to 20 votes, already stated that concessions are not an option.
However, this does not discourage PiS, as opposition Polish People’s Party (PSL) is open for discussion on possible legislative solutions, and it proposed its own draft bill regarding the judiciary system a couple weeks ago, a member of the party told Rzeczpospolita.
The National Recovery Plan for Poland is around €34 billion, including €22.81 billion in grants. Poland was to receive around €4.7 billion from the fund this autumn, but this did not happen.
