Konrad Szymański, Poland’s minister for European Affairs, feels Poland is in a good place over the proposed European Union Recovery Fund but warns that the negotiations are still ongoing, according to an interview he conducted with news portal dorzeczy.
In the interview, Szymański feels that Poland has managed to get its arguments across and has succeeded in shaping the EU proposals in the direction that it always wanted regarding the EU recovery fund designed to deal with the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis.
The minister expressed satisfaction that the scale of the assistance to be offered is of the magnitude Poland was advocating when it criticized the initial response to the COVID-19 crisis. The proposed fund will contain €500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans and serve as “good grounds for a new beginning in the negotiations” over the EU budget.
Szymański stressed that Europe has to help itself as no external aid of type seen in the Marshall Fund that could now be available, adding that it was not a post-war situation. The EU has no other funds than those which member states can commit, but there must be a recognition that for the single market to function there has to be a capacity to make transfers to assist members who need help.
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