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Brussels is exploring options to allocate more than 100 billion euros in EU funds to Poland, even as the country's president vetoes Donald Tusk's judicial reforms.
The issue concerns Prime Minister Tusk, who came to power last month after campaigning for the release of funds that the European Commission froze in a long-running dispute with the previous government led by the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS). had.
To access the funds, the government must meet a series of conditions or “super milestones” related to the independence of the judiciary. The difficulty for Tusk is that President Andrzej Duda, a PiS candidate who will remain in office until 2025, has already blocked other reforms proposed by the new government and escalated a constitutional dispute with the prime minister.
However, Tusk has vowed to speed up judicial reforms to meet EU milestones and said he hoped Duda would enact them.
EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders expressed confidence on Friday that judicial reforms would allow Brussels to release a next tranche soon. He also called on Duda to support Tusk's reforms.
“I hope that we will receive the support of all authorities, including the President, to restore the rule of law in Poland. If that doesn't happen, we'll see,” Reynders said at a joint press conference with Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar in Warsaw. “The new government is determined to restore the rule of law in Poland.”
Other EU officials expressed confidence that Duda will not sabotage the reforms that will enable Poland's long-awaited funding.
“It is up to the president, it is his prerogative to decide,” said Věra Jourová, vice-president of the commission, adding that she had “the feeling that Mr. President [Duda] Is . . . ready to consider the proposals.”
But if Duda maintains his blockade, Brussels and Warsaw are working on an alternative way to release the funds, people familiar with the discussion say.
One option is to partially or fully release 76.5 billion euros of regular EU funds that were withheld at the end of 2022 due to judicial independence but are not officially linked to the “super milestones”. On Friday, Polish Regional Policy Minister Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz said her government had received confirmation from Brussels that Warsaw had met the conditions for full access to the funds, which can be spent until 2027.
As for EU post-pandemic recovery funds totaling €35.4 billion in loans and grants, Poland would need to access them before they expire in 2026. Brussels and Warsaw are working on a “combination of legislative and non-legislative means” to achieve this, EU and Polish officials said.
Poland has already applied for reconstruction funds worth 7 billion euros and expects these to be paid out in the spring. Warsaw hopes to receive a total of 23 billion euros in renovation funds this year.
The issue is politically sensitive for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who must ensure that it does not favor the new EU-friendly government in Poland, which comes from the same political family as her.
“There is a lot of interest in Brussels to help Tusk and release at least some of this money and ensure that this change in Poland is reflected not only in the rhetoric but also in the issuance of cold hard cash as an incentive to continue these reforms,” he told Jakub Jaraczewski, research coordinator at the NGO Democracy Reporting International.
However, he added: “It would be extremely damaging for the Commission to release all the money solely on the promises of the Polish government.”
Hungary, whose EU funds are also frozen on rule of law grounds, has used the opportunity to criticize Brussels for its alleged double standards towards Warsaw and Budapest.
“It is enough to take a look at what is happening in Poland and the reactions in Brussels [to dispel] “There is no doubt about what an incorrect, hypocritical and double-standard gang is running Brussels,” said Gergely Gulyás, an adviser to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Gulyás sided with the PiS opposition, which has complained in recent days about the arrest of former ministers convicted of abuses in office, and accused EU officials of “closing their eyes” and Having ignored basic values.