Member States have so far utilized little EU resources to rebuild after the Covid-19 pandemic than expected; if nothing changes, EU countries may not be able to spend their money by the deadline, or by August 2026, to inform EU auditors in a study published on Monday.
Over the first 3 years of implementation of the EU Instrument for Reconstruction and Enhancing Immunity (RRF) of EUR 724 billion, delays in the payment and implementation of projects have been reported by auditors. In half of the fund, EU countries have utilized little than 1 3rd of EU funds to rebuild after the Covid-19 pandemic, and only about half of the funds transferred from Brussels to their national capitals have reached the alleged final recipients, companies or schools.
Although the EC payment rate has increased this year and investment has accelerated slightly, the European Court of Auditors (ECA), the EU audit body, warned in its Monday study that associate States may not be able to usage the funds in time and complete the planned activities by closing the RRF in August 2026. As she explained on Monday during Ivan Maletić's briefing with the ECA, the timely spending of funds is besides crucial due to the fact that it will aid to avoid bottlenecks in the implementation of activities at the end of the instrument and reduce the hazard of inefficient spending and errors.
In its report, the ECA noted that in almost all countries there were delays in submitting payment applications to the Commission, frequently due to inflation, uncertainty about rules or insufficient administrative capacity. any countries, including Poland, received late funding. By the time the funds went to Warsaw from Brussels, the government of Mateusz Morawiecki was able to bow to the force of the Eurocrats and promised a number of terrible actions for the country.
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Only in April of that year did the EC recognise that Poland had taken appropriate steps to change the judiciary and decided to pay the first tranche of €6.3 billion under the National Recovery Plan. In September Poland is expected to submit 2 further applications for withdrawals; it will have a full of EUR 60 billion to be spent.
However, as Piotr Serafin, a typical of Poland to the Union, told journalists in May, due to the dispute over the regulation of law, Poland "lost" 2 and a half years for investments from KPO, so the deadline until August 2026 may be besides short for her to carry out large projects. The diplomat then stated that Poland is in favour of extending the implementation period of the National Reconstruction Plan. For now, however, the European Commission does not foresee this possibility.
(PAP)/work. FA
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