WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has met conditions to submit documents crucial for getting access to EU's Structural Funds, meaning they could be released in a few months, Funds and Regional Policy Minister Katarzyna Pelczynska-Nalecz told private television TVN24 on Saturday.
The EU has held back billions in funds earmarked for Poland due to concerns over judicial reforms implemented by the previous nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) government which critics say undermined the independence of the courts.
The new pro-EU government has pledged to restore the rule of law and get the EU funds released, but it faces resistance from supporters and allies of the former ruling party, including President Andrzej Duda and some high-profile judges.
"There is a green light for us to finally submit documents (regarding the Structural Funds), this is technically called self-assessment," TVN24 quoted Pelczynska-Nalecz as saying.
"...these documents will be processed, after their processing, consent will be given to submit applications for financing, so it's still 2-3 months plus another 1.5 months," she added.
She also said that a consent to send self-assessment is crucial in the process and the documents have already been sent, as they were prepared earlier.
On Friday the minister said on social media platform X that Poland has met the final conditions needed to gain access to 76 billion euros in funds from the European Union's 2021-2027 budget.
The European Commission said Poland had officially informed it that it believed it had fulfilled the rule-of-law conditions necessary to get the money, but this was still being assessed.