The European Commission has written to five Polish regions to inform them that European Union pandemic recovery funds will be “put on hold” until they address concerns over anti-LGBT resolutions they have passed.
Last month, it was revealed that one of those provinces, Małopolska, had received such a warning. Now, a letter sent on Friday to the authorities there, as well as those in Łódź, Świętokrzyskie, Lublin and Podkarpackie provinces, has been leaked.
Four of the five provinces – which together make up almost 30% of Poland’s population and territory – have adopted resolutions declaring opposition to “LGBT ideology”. In the case of Łódź, it passed a “charter of family rights” that defines marriage as being between a man and a women and pledges to “protect children from moral corruption”.
The documents have no legal force, but have become a central and symbolic element of the anti-LGBT campaign led by Poland’s nationally ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party over the last two and a half years.
On Saturday, activist group Atlas Nienawiści (Atlas of Hate) published a copy of a letter sent on Friday to the heads of local government in each of the five provinces by Normunds Popens, the European Commission’s deputy director general for regional and urban policy.
In the document – which was also sent to Poland’s minister of funds and regional policy – Popens notes that in July the commission launched legal action against Poland for violations of the rights of LGBT people, after authorities failed to respond to questions about the anti-LGBT declarations.
He reminded the local governments that they have a responsibility to answer questions regarding whether the resolutions comply with European law, especially in relation to discrimination.
“The commission would like to stress that declaring LGBTIQ-free/unwelcome territories…constitutes an action that is against the values set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union,” wrote Popens. “[This] puts into question the capacity of regional managing authorities to ensure compliance.”
As such, “we will put on hold the REACT-EU programme amendments in relation to your regional operational programmes”, concluded Popens.
The REACT-EU package, adopted by the EU in December, offers tens of billions of euros of funds to help with recovery from the pandemic. In the case of Małopolska alone, €33.5 million (151 million zloty) of funds are at stake, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.
Other European funds have also been put at risk by the anti-LGBT declarations. The commission rejected funding applications from six such Polish municipalities because they failed to “respect EU values and fundamental rights”.
Last year, the Norwegian foreign minister announced that local authorities that have passed anti-LGBT resolutions will not receive money from the so-called Norway Grants, as well as the related EEA Grants, to which Norway is the main contributor and Poland is the largest recipient.
Earlier this year, councillors in the town of Kraśnik voted to withdraw their anti-LGBT resolution due to the danger of losing millions in Norwegian funds. Previously, another town, Nowa Dęba, had done the same.
However, last month, PiS majorities in the provincial parliaments of both Małopolska and Lublin voted to retain their resolutions against “LGBT ideology”, despite reports that it could cost them billions of euros in EU funds.
Main image credit: Jakub Wlodek / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
