"Polish regions are narrowing the wealth gap with their Western European counterparts, but we cannot be victims of our own success when it comes to allocation of EU funds. We are still significantly lagging behind Western Europe. Given the fact that over half of our national public investment between 2014 and 2017 came from EU funds, it is clear that we do require continuous support", said Marshal of Podkarpackie region Władysław Ortyl, commenting on the Multiannual Financial Framework proposals unveiled on May 2.

"Recent proposals of the European Commission on the next EU budget are not going in the right direction. They decrease funding for Polish regions and increase the level of centralisation. If adopted as they stand, they would slow down economic convergence in Europe", commented the Marshal.

The ECR Member noted that the Commission's proposals put countries in Central-Eastern Europe such as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Baltic countries in a very difficult situation as they would lose more funds in relative terms than most other Member States. According to Marshal Ortyl, "drastic spending cuts would heavily affect projects that are and will be ongoing" and which "do need time to deliver the intended results".

Marshal Ortyl has also pointed to another worrying tendency in Commission's MFF proposals, namely centralisation. "The funds need to be as close to beneficiaries as possible. Time and time again, these funds in Brussels and these projects that have to be applied for in Brussels are so distant and inaccessible that the bar appears to have been set at a higher level in terms of requirements, innovation and standards. The new proposals only reinforce this trend".

In many EU countries, including Poland, there are already clear difficulties in acquiring funding under programmes managed from Brussels, such as the LIFE financial instrument. In Marshal Ortyl's opinion, the centralisation of funding is largely to blame. As he pointed out during a debate organised by the Polish Press Agency at the European Parliament in March, "As a rule, the further funds are from beneficiaries, the harder it is to acquire them."