The European Commission is preparing to unblock up to €137 billion in cohesion and recovery funds for Poland, which until now has been unable to access the cash over rule-of-law concerns.
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00:00 On Friday, the Polish Prime Minister welcomed the President of the European Commission with
00:08 a smile.
00:10 Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Poland to announce her intention to release 137 billion
00:16 euros for Warsaw in the next few days.
00:23 For Polish leader Donald Tusk, in office since December, this is the first political victory
00:28 marking his country`s return to the European stage.
00:53 These funds, which come from the union`s cohesion policy and recovery plan, had until now been
00:57 frozen because of the previous ultra-conservative government`s attack on the independence of
01:02 the judiciary and the rule of law.
01:04 Donald Tusk did not waste any time and presented a number of reforms that convinced the Commission.
01:15 I strongly welcome the action plan that your government presented to the member states
01:20 this week.
01:22 It is a powerful statement.
01:26 It is a clear roadmap for Poland and your efforts are decisive.
01:34 The decision will be formally presented next week by the College of Commissioners to validate
01:38 the release of the funds.
01:41 Well, despite his elation over the fact that 137 billion euros could potentially soon be
01:50 unblocked for his country, the prime minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, also used that press
01:56 conference today to express concern for Polish farmers.
01:59 He had a clear message for Brussels when he said that when supporting Ukraine, the fate
02:04 of the people of Europe should not be put at stake, referring to the Polish farmers
02:10 who`ve been protesting on the Ukrainian border, concerned that cheap Ukrainian food products
02:15 are flooding the market.
02:17 My name is Magma Hinyur and I'm from Warsaw.
02:19 [SWOOSH]