Poland mulls borrowing from Asia if EU does not send recovery money – EURACTIV.com

The minister announced that Poland will still implement all the investments and reforms stated in its recovery plan approved by the EU executive, even if the funds come from elsewhere.

“Let’s take another point of view. [The EU recovery fund] is a huge borrowing. So if for clearly political reasons it was blocked [for Poland]we should consider borrowing money from another source,” said Gliński, indicating that Poland might seek money to implement its investment plans from Asian states.

To receive their allocations from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), countries must present their recovery plans – the outlines of how they intend to spend the money – and have them accepted by the European Commission.

The Commission approved Poland’s recovery plan in May. Still, it continues to withhold launching the first tranche from the RRF until the country fulfills the milestones mainly relating to judicial independence.

Gliński, however, believes that the Commission’s blocking the payments for Poland is “a primitive, outright blackmail aimed at forcing a change in power” in the country,

Asked whether it was a mistake for Poland that it tried to fulfill the Commission’s conditions instead of rejecting the EU recovery money, the minister replied that the Polish government “understood the risk of being deceived” by the EU.

Gliński also announced that Poland would respond to its failure to receive the RRF money with its own project so that all the investments and reforms planned under the recovery plan would be implemented anyway, although he refused to provide details.