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EU Releases $5.5 Billion in Aid to Poland's Tusk Government

by VOA News

   The European Union on Friday announced the release of about $5.5
   billion in aid to Poland, part of a total of about $65 billion in EU
   aid withheld from the nation during the previous Polish government amid
   concerns over its respect for the rule of law.

   European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the
   release of the funds Friday at a news conference in Brussels alongside
   Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on the sidelines of an EU summit.

   Tusk called the funds "a Christmas present."

   "Not a small gift ... these are very important funds that will be used
   to improve our energy sovereignty," he said, referring to Poland's need
   to move away from dependence on Russian-provided fuel.

   The money was released unconditionally as part of the EU program to
   ween the bloc off Russian fuel and fossil fuels in general, as part of
   the bloc's green transition.

   But release of the balance of the aid funding -- as part of the EU's
   COVID-recovery program -- is contingent upon Poland reversing judicial
   reforms made under the right-wing Law and Justice Party, which took
   power in 2015. EU officials said those reforms weakened the nation's
   judiciary and failed to meet the bloc's democratic standards.

   In an interview with Reuters earlier this week, Tusk, whose government
   was sworn in Wednesday, said that legislation to reverse the earlier
   reforms is in place and he was confident he could speed up the process.

   Von der Leyen on Friday commended the actions that Tusk and his
   government had taken so far, saying she was hopeful the issues can be
   resolved quickly.

   "For far too long, the concerns about the rule of law have hampered our
   capacity to help Poland modernize its economy and implement the twin
   transition with green and digital," von der Leyen said.

   Tusk was first elected prime minister in 2007 and left Poland to become
   president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019. He then returned
   to Warsaw to again lead his Civic Platform party and successfully
   challenge the ruling right-wing Law and Justice Party in October's
   election.

   Some information for this report was provided by The Associated Press,
   Reuters and Agence France-Presse.