– Lower Silesia’s EU budget will be record-breaking in terms of its size, as we have nearly 11 billion zlotys at our disposal. We will allocate this money to the sustainable development of the entire region, including the implementation of many investments needed by Lower Silesia’s residents and improving the quality of life of the region’s inhabitants. Once again, I thank the local government officials, representatives of non-governmental organisations and social partners involved in preparing the regional programme of the European Funds for Lower Silesia for 2021–2027 – said Marshal Cezary Przybylski.
– We negotiated a record amount of EU support for Lower Silesia in its history. It was not easy, because we are developing very quickly, while EU cohesion policy usually focuses on supporting less-developed regions. Now we are moving on to implementing our programme, and an extremely intensive stage of implementing European funds lies ahead of us – said Deputy Marshal Grzegorz Macko. – Thanks to effective negotiations, we managed to obtain substantial financial support from the state budget for Lower Silesian local governments. As a result of our talks, more than one billion zlotys from the state budget will be allocated to supplement own contributions to projects implemented, among others, by Lower Silesian local governments. Nearly half of this amount will be allocated exclusively to the area of the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship. This will significantly relieve the budgets of the municipalities in our region – the Deputy Marshal added.
The programme opens up new development prospects for Lower Silesia connected with the use of EU funds, which the Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship secured for the region through negotiations with the European Commission and the government of the Republic of Poland. It is a record amount of nearly 11 billion zlotys under the European Funds for Lower Silesia for 2021–2027, including more than 2.6 billion zlotys for the Wałbrzych subregion under the Just Transition Fund, dedicated to the development of post-mining areas.
– The programme was already approved in December last year. Today’s discussion about it should begin with congratulations and thanks to everyone who participated in its formulation. Lower Silesia has joined the transition regions – this is a major success. Money from the new programme will provide stable support enabling the region’s further development – added Simeon Shenev, a representative of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.
Our voivodeship, thanks to the support provided so far by Cohesion Policy, is developing rapidly. Lower Silesia has exceeded the threshold of 75% of the EU average GDP per capita and has thus been classified as a transition region rather than a less-developed region. We are currently among the fastest-developing regions in Europe. The unemployment rate is steadily falling despite the difficult post-COVID and geopolitical situation in the country and Europe. At the same time, business activity is growing and local governments are investing boldly in order to improve residents’ quality of life. European funds have had a significant impact on this situation.
– If we want Lower Silesia to continue developing at its current pace, we must respond to the needs of Lower Silesia’s residents. We want to allocate EU funds to many areas important from the residents’ perspective, including transport, infrastructure, issues related to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, energy efficiency, the development of renewable energy sources and the social inclusion of the inhabitants of our voivodeship – explains Tymoteusz Myrda, Member of the Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
The fact that the region has obtained transition-region status means that EU projects implemented in Lower Silesia in the coming years with the support of EU funds will receive slightly less funding than during the financial perspective ending in 2014–2020. This entails the need to provide larger own contributions, because from now on the European Union will contribute no more than 70%, rather than a maximum of 85%, of the value of a given project.
That is why the Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship successfully negotiated with the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy for financial resources amounting to one billion zlotys. Under the Programme Contract, these funds will be allocated from the state budget to supplement own contributions for projects financed with support from the European Funds for Lower Silesia 2021–2027 programme.
– EU funds will enable the implementation of many key investments that will significantly contribute to the development and improvement of living conditions for the inhabitants of our voivodeship. EU funds will be allocated, among other things, to healthcare, employment activation, education, transport, issues related to supporting innovation and entrepreneurship, energy efficiency and the development of renewable energy sources – lists Deputy Marshal Marcin Krzyżanowski.
Thanks to the record amount of 11 billion zlotys, the dynamic and sustainable development of the entire voivodeship will continue in the coming years. European funds will be allocated to investments in many areas of social and economic life, including the development of entrepreneurship, infrastructure projects, transport, healthcare and environmental protection, education and counteracting social exclusion.
– In the coming years, our region will have the largest EU budget in its history, amounting to nearly 11 billion zlotys. This is a great success for the Board of the Voivodeship, which successfully negotiated the funds with the EC and conducted consultations with local government officials and other stakeholders for many months. We will allocate these funds to the sustainable development of the whole of Lower Silesia – says Krzysztof Maj, Member of the Board of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
During the conference, local government officials, representatives of the government, the European Commission, social organisations, academia and entrepreneurs discussed the strategy for using EU funds in the coming years. The event brought together more than 200 participants.