Leading EPP Mayors, Presidents of Regions, MEPs and national leaders met in Warsaw, Poland to discuss plans and opportunities for the €60 billion in EU recovery funds ring-fenced for the country. While EU measures to help cities and regions on their road to recovery were welcomed, there was wide criticism to the lack of engagement of local and regional authorities (LRAs) in the planning stage and in the partisan politics that characterized fund distribution.
Donald Tusk, President of Civic Platform opened the event stating "Freezing the prices of energy is crucial if we want to survive this winter. LRAs are key players in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF), but unfortunately in Poland's case, the government is not communicating enough or supporting the local authorities in this. Every euro unspent is a euro that the government is taking away from the local authorities who are suppose to provide for the citizens."
"The EU's RRF, currently valued at over €806 billion, was created following an EPP initiative calling for a dedicated EU-wide economic recovery package to respond to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poland stands to benefit from €60 billion (almost 300 billion zlotys) under the RRF, if all opportunities are seized and the funds are managed well." said EPP Group in the European Parliament Vice-Chairman Siegfried Mureşan MEP. He stressed the need to engage LRAs. "Time is short. Recovery funds can only be successfully implemented in Poland together with the mayors and regional authorities. European funds are money from the people of Europe for the people of Poland. They need to be used to address the needs of the local communities, across all regions and communities, irrespective of political affiliation.”
Andrzej Halicki MEP and Head of the EPP Polish Delegation in the European Parliament said "The recovery fund should not only help us to rebuild after the pandemic, but also to be better prepared for the future. The €60 billion is a stronger support for Poland than the available budgetary funds. It would be really deplorable not to make full use of it."
Olgierd Geblewicz, President of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions (EPP-CoR) and President of Westpomeranian Region (Poland) thanked the EPP Group in the European Parliament for the good cooperation with the LRAs. He proposed the creation of a special Task Force to better implement the Recovery Plan "We must strengthen our cooperation, work together in order to make a better Europe for our citizens. Establishing a special taskforce between the two EPP Groups (European Parliament and European Committee of the Regions) would be key to find solutions for implementing the RFF and tackling the challenges ahead. This will involve in the future working closely with José Manuel Fernandes MEP and the EPP Group Coordinator for Budgets as well as Jan Olbrycht MEP, Vice-Chair of the EPP Group in the European Parliament."
Joining the event online was also Carlos Moedas, Mayor of Lisbon. He said "The European Union lost an opportunity in communicating better with the citizens by not engaging more the local authorities in the Next Generation EU project. The best tool that the EU has to be closer to the people lies in its regions, cities and towns. As mayors we are faced with a recovery plan that was decided at national level, when it should be a plan of Europe implemented through mayors."
"The current geopolitical uncertainty, high inflation and energy prices caused by the Russian aggression against Ukraine is not diminishing the climate emergency we live in. There is no time to lose in implementing the Recovery Plan. Tackling energy poverty, providing cities and regions with direct funds and technical assistance to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy bills and accelerate the deployment of renewable energies is the only way forward for a proper recovery. Without involving citizens and local communities, we will not reach a sustainable and just transition for all." said Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw.
The Mayor of Warsaw added that: "The most important lesson from the design and implementation of the RecoveryPlan is that cities should have been involved in the process from the very beginning. Without cities’ participation we cannot seriously talk about economic recovery, energy transformation and retrofitting or digitalization of public services. We need direct funding, money that are earmarked for green and digital transformation. It’s about changing the rules as well as giving cities a portion of money from national envelopes."
Kostas Bakoyannis, Mayor of Athens underlined the need not to underestimate the revolutionary character of the Next Generation EU in the RFF. "It is the main path for us not to just bounce back but to bounce forward. But we need to ask ourselves if this is a once in a lifetime or generation opportunity for recovery or will it be the new way of thinking." He added that unfortunately, the recovery plan did not take into account the input of LRAs referring to this as a weakness as the plan lacks democratic ownership, political consensus and transparency.
He explained that EPP governments such as the one in Greece took a different approach. "In the case of Greece and Athens, because the government belongs to the EPP Family, we as local authorities were consulted on the recovery plan. Unfortunately, the Athenian exception is not the rule." Bakoyannis warned that the time for implementation is very short and not realistic.
The event also included Krzysztof Hetman MEP, Co-Chair of the Polish Delegation in the EPP Group Polskie Stronictwo Ludowe, Jan Olbrycht MEP, Vice-Chair of the EPP Group, Elżbieta Polak, President of Lubuskie Region and member of the EPP-CoR Group, Ciprian Ciucu, Mayor of District 6 of Bucharest, Roman Szełemej, Mayor of Wałbrzych and José Manuel Fernandes MEP, EPP Group Coordinator for Budgets.
Event photos
Further information
The Warsaw event is the first in a series across Member States, jointly organised by the EPP Group in the European Parliament and the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions, to oversee national recovery plans.
The RRF is a temporary recovery instrument. It allows the Commission to raise funds to help Member States implement reforms and investments that are in line with the EU’s priorities and that address the challenges identified in country-specific recommendations under the European Semester framework of economic and social policy coordination. The RRF helps the EU achieve its target of climate neutrality by 2050 and sets Europe on a path of digital transition, creating jobs and spurring growth in the process.