Nearly 52 percent of Poland’s public investments have been financed by the European Union, according to estimates from the European Commission. This means that roughly every second construction project in Poland went up with EU funds. The Polish Ministry of Regional Development signed agreements totalling PLN 213bn from 2007 to 2011, with nearly half of that figure going to Polish companies. “The data provided by the European Commission reflects Poland’s dependence on EU’s funds. The 52 percent is the high figure, that confirms Poland could be suffering from the investments slowdown in the coming years,” said Tomasz Kaczor of Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego. Along with its investment volume, Poland’s GDP is expected to drop over the next few years, with the public tenders sector taking the first hit. In 2011, public tenders reached PLN 144bn, showing a 23-percent decrease from 2010. “It’s a simple calculation, as every second investment is fueled from EU’S funds,” said Jerzy Kwieciński, the former deputy minister of the Polish regional development department. “So the investment transaction volume in Poland is expected to drop by 50 percent in the coming year.”
