By WARSAW (Reuters) – The EU Commission has approved Poland’s application for further installments of European Union pandemic recovery funds worth 9.4 billion euros ($9.96 billion), the Commission said in a statement on Tuesday.
Poland said it expects the funds to be transferred by the end of the year after the Commission said Warsaw had achieved the targets set out for the second and third tranches.
“It will be the largest single EU fund transfer ever received by our country,” the ministry for funds and regional development said in a statement.
Poland has already secured the release of billions of euros aimed at helping EU members recover from the COVID-19 pandemic in return for commitments of rule-of-law reforms by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who assumed office last year.
The funds, previously suspended over concerns about the independence of the judiciary, will support Poland’s economy, which the European Commission predicts will expand by 2.8% this year, outperforming its central European peers.
Minister of Funds and Regional Policy, Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz, said on X that Poland plans to send the fourth and fifth applications for payment at the end of 2024.