PiS MEP Jadwiga Wiśniewska submitted a question today to the European Commission regarding funds from the Cohesion Fund. The issue concerns the European Commission’s decision to allocate 10 billion euros from the Fund to countries affected by this year’s floods, including Austria, which could result in a reduction of funds earmarked for Poland, among others.
As the MEP pointed out, the Fund’s purpose is to level the playing field for less affluent EU countries in the single market, among other things by supporting infrastructure investments in those countries. “Member states whose gross national income per capita is less than 90 percent of the EU average are eligible for funding from the Fund for the years 2021–2027. Among them, in addition to Poland, are also countries in our region which, due to historical circumstances, have been unable to develop over the years in the same way as Western countries,” reads the letter to the European Commission.
Wiśniewska noted that the Commission president announced that financial assistance from the Cohesion Fund for countries affected by flooding would also be directed to Austria, which, as one of the wealthiest EU countries, is not, in principle, a beneficiary of the Cohesion Fund during the 2021–2027 programming period.
“The European Commission’s decision may have negative consequences for less affluent EU countries that have already been allocated funds from the Cohesion Fund, including, above all, Poland, as the largest beneficiary, entitled to over 10 billion euros,” the MEP believes. According to Jadwiga Wiśniewska, this could lead to a reduction in funding under the Fund and, consequently, a scaling back of planned investments.
In light of this, the PiS MEP submitted a series of questions to the Commission. First and foremost, she wanted to know whether allocating Cohesion Fund resources to Austria would reduce funding for less affluent countries eligible to receive support from the Fund. She also inquired about the mechanism and scope of reallocations of funds from the Cohesion Fund within the 2021–2027 programming period, as well as whether the European Commission is aware that allocating Cohesion Fund resources to Austria will necessitate changes to ongoing and planned investments by Member States eligible to benefit from the Fund.
