According to the Ministry, in mid-December Poland submitted its first notion for payment of €6.9bn, constituting €2.8bn grants and €4.2bn loans. (Please note a difference between a notion for RRF payment or tranche rather than for a one-off advance payment, which already occurred). The transfer is expected to be disbursed in late March or in April, after the European Commission’s review. The payments are made with roughly semi-annual frequency, and based on the country’s payment notions, and reviewed by the EC against the realised milestones in the RRF timeline. At the same time, the Ministry informed that it plans to submit two more notions in 2024, while blocking four of the originally envisioned semi-annual tranches. Therefore, the first notion comprising tranches #2 and #3 is to be submitted by mid-2024 (and disbursed sometime in the late summer), while the second notion comprising tranches #4 and #5 are to be submitted in late 2024 (and paid out in early 2025).
The EC re-confirmed Poland’s first payment request of mid-December though for an amount of €6.3bn, as it is net of pre-financing (via the latest advance payment and some minor technical payments in 2022-23). In its press release, the EC stated that Poland’s request is related to 37 milestones and one target covering investments and reforms in the areas of the resilience and competitiveness of the economy, green energy, digital transformation, health and clean mobility. At the same time, the EC noted that payments under the RRF are performance-based and contingent on Poland implementing the investments and reforms outlined in its NRRP. According to the EC, no disbursement is possible until Poland has satisfactorily fulfilled the “super milestones”. Please stay tuned for further developments regarding the rule of law provisions. We assume that all in all Poland will satisfy these conditions in the coming months.
