Opposition leader welcomes recovery plan acceptance, hopes for new trend

Donald Tusk, leader of Poland's main opposition party, Civic Platform (PO), has said he hopes the European Commission (EC)'s acceptance of the country's recovery plan heralds a new and positive relationship between Warsaw and Brussels. Tusk was speaking a day after Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission (EC) president, officially confirmed its long-awaited approval of Poland's National Recovery Plan (KPO), which outlines how it intends to spend billions of euros in post-pandemic recovery funding, on Thursday. The commission's approval of the plan must be confirmed by the other 26 European Union member states within four weeks, but it paves the way for Warsaw finally gaining access to EUR 23.9 billion in grants and EUR 11.5 billion in loans.