The Polish government’s well-intentioned plan to show where the money from the European Union’s recovery fund has gone is threatening to turn into a series of scandals and the death knell of the fragile coalition, Politico reports.
The uproar began after the government published an interactive online map where anyone can see who has received EU grants and for what purpose. Some of the projects are eye-opening, including a swingers club among the grant recipients, a pizzeria that bought tanning equipment and a chain of vodka bars. It has given the far-right Law and Justice (PiS) party reason to attack the coalition.
A review of the published data revealed that the funds from the 282.3 million euros HoReCa support project have not only supported hotels, restaurants and cultural venues that suffered losses during the pandemic, but also received funding for projects of a slightly more dubious nature, yachts were purchased, a pizzeria added tanning to its range of services, and a company registered at the same address as a swingers club has especially caught the attention of PiS.
PiS seizes every opportunity to regain political dominance, and without undue delay has cited these cases as evidence of the wastefulness of the Tusk government. On August 9, Tobiasz Bocheński, a right-wing MP, held a rally in front of the Prime Minister’s office, and is said to have shouted that this is the biggest scandal since 1989. The MP also made a plaque with the inscription “Ministry of Herrings and Vodka” as a tribute to one of the funded projects.
The party has promised to launch a parliamentary investigation to find all the connections.
The HoReCa scheme is part of a total of 59.8 billion euros that Poland receives from the EU Recovery Plan fund. Brussels froze the funds when PiS was in power due to concerns about the rule of law. Unblocking the funds was one of Tusk’s main promises during the pre-election campaign. The HoReCa funds were intended to help small and medium-sized enterprises diversify their businesses and help them survive crises more easily.
A restaurant owner in Lodz, whose grant attracted attention by using the funds to buy two yachts, has defended the purchase, saying it is a perfectly legal way to continue working during a possible future lockdown. He told Money.pl that the yachts were not bought for holiday purposes, but would be rented out to tourists when restaurants were empty or closed.
Meanwhile, a businessman whose registered office is in the same building as the swingers club, said the funds were used to purchase metalworking equipment, not for adult entertainment.
Officials have stressed that
many of the allegedly shocking projects comply with the rules of the program,
which the then PiS-led government also participated in developing in 2021.
Tusk has said that there will be zero tolerance for the waste of EU funds. His government has put in too much effort to make the funds available, and now it is not going to let them go to waste. An investigation has been launched, and the initial results will be known at the end of September.
Tusk’s government already has enough problems, from the late-night meeting of coalition partners “Polska 2050” with PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński and their involvement in monitoring funds, to the fact that PiS candidate Karol Nawrocki has become the new Polish president. Nawrocki’s coming to power means that legislative changes may become a mission impossible.
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