Polish Senate ratifies NextGenerationEU fund without reasonable spending preamble

The Polish Senate adopted Thursday without amendments the draft bill ratifying the NextGenerationEU fund, leaving out a special preamble guaranteeing reasonable spending.

The preamble, which was proposed by the opposition, failed to obtain a majority after two lawmakers got stuck in a lift.

Following the vote on the amendment, for which 49 senators voted against and 49 voted in favour, it later came out that Civic Coalition members Leszek Czarnobaj and Aleksander Pociej got stuck in a lift and had problems connecting to the voting session online.

Opposition MPs criticised the two senators for losing out on a chance to block the government’s future spending of the recovery fund in ways it says willd violate the fundamental rights of its citizens.

The special preamble stated that the government would pledge to spend the funds “on the basis of the principles of justice, transparency and the rule of law”, guaranteeing the equal treatment of the subjects entitled to receive financing.

Before the vote, the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party called on senators to adopt the bill in its current form. The spokesman of President Andrzej Duda called the attempt to add the preamble “absurd” and “ridiculous”, accusing the opposition of withholding the recovery fund’s ratification out of their own buffoonery.

The bill has now been adopted by the Senate and previously the parliament’s lower chamber known as the Sejm on 4 May, meaning that to end the ratification process, all that remains is the president’s signature. (Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)