In addition to economic recovery, the main objective of national recovery plans is to achieve greater territorial cohesion. However, according to ECR Member Robert Godek, this is only possible with "good cooperation between local and regional authorities, the European Union and central government".

Mr Godek, Councillor of Strzyżów District Council, describes the devastating impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on European economies, including in his home country, Poland, where "GDP has fallen sharply after three decades of uninterrupted economic growth".

He recognises that "while prudent macroeconomic policies and social programmes have helped his country mitigate the impact of the pandemic", "a return to previous levels of economic growth is, even in the best case scenarios, not expected until 2022".

However, Mr Godek has faith that the EU's new Recovery Fund will contribute to the recovery and growth of EU economies and highlights that the great advantage of the Fund from a regional perspective is full 100% financing of investments.

In Mr Godek's region in south-eastern Poland, they have put forward as many as 71 projects for the National Recovery Plan, which are key to limiting the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development processes of the region and supporting the region's resilience against future crisis factors.

The Podkarpackie region is the coordinator of two bundles of projects identified under the National Recovery Plan - the development of regional road infrastructure and public safety in mountain areas.  

Mr Godek delivered his speech in the European Committee of the Region's hearing on "LRAs and the Recovery and Resilience Plans that took place on 22 January and was organised by the CoR Commission on Economic Policy.