Sonia Sobczyk-Grygiel, Business Insider Polska: Two years have passed since the elections of October 15, 2023. How do you assess the results of these two years – what was missing?
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, Minister of Funds and Regional Policy: : We failed to show the “big picture”, what our development goal is. There are too many individual positions and too little common voice that would respond to the great hope for change that this coalition brought when it took power. As a result, people are losing faith and the government is reeling. This must change so that the forces that destroyed, not built, Poland do not return to power.
Do you mean PiS?
I mean PiS.
What do you consider to be the success of recent years?
I will refer to the area for which I am responsible. I consider it a success to have unlocked the KPO and European funds – because they were all frozen, as well as the implementation of the KPO in twice the time available to other countries, which makes it an incredibly difficult challenge. In this case, we are moving from the EU tail to the middle of the peloton.
Another achievement is the great change in housing policy – we managed to avoid paying extra for loans, and at the same time, we managed to avoid paying a lot we invest in social housing constructionwe are opening social rental agencies and we have also introduced transparency of apartment prices.
I would also consider it a success that we prepared it Polish Development Strategy until 2035which will replace the Morawiecki Plan prepared before the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The document has been added to the government's list of priorities.
I would add to this list that we have very radically changed the model of financing Polish private business and innovations, including biotechnology and cybersecurity.
Read also: “She was number one.” Who is Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz?
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz is Poland 2050's candidate for deputy prime minister
You want to become deputy prime minister, why?
This question suggests that I have unjustified personal ambition…
I'm not suggesting anything like that.
I am referring to the general tone of the public debate. The fact that the minister of Poland 2050 will be the deputy prime minister will be good for the coalition. Firstly, this is what we agreed, and secondly, all formations should be treated equally – each should have a deputy prime minister. Pushing Poland 2050 into a corner is not conducive to good cooperation. We agreed without blinking an eye to Radosław Sikorski becoming deputy prime minister. The Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy, which I head, is exceptionally horizontal – 13 ministries were involved in the last revision of the KPO. We coordinate matters related to the current and next EU financial perspective – we are the contact point with the European Commission in these matters.
A stronger position in the government would greatly help us in negotiations regarding the future EU budget for 2028-2034.
Finally, our ministry is responsible for the country's medium-term development strategy until 2035. Each of the current deputy prime ministers reports an important horizontal area: security, foreign affairs, digital sphere. From the point of view of effective governance, appointing a deputy prime minister responsible for public investments and regional policy makes great sense.
So what exactly would you like to do as deputy prime minister?
How to best negotiate the new EU budget, implement funds from the current perspective and implement the development strategy. We must define our development model. Therefore, I would like Poland to set its own priorities for the first time when preparing for the next EU financial perspective. So far, Brussels has done this. It wasn't bad, but today there are very big differences in interests between EU countries – large Western countries want to support large corporations through the new EU budget tool, the Competitiveness Fund. However, it is important for us that our medium-sized enterprises can also be beneficiaries of this fund. We want small companies to transform into medium-sized ones and medium-sized ones to become large ones. Political strengthening of our ministry would greatly help us achieve these tasks.
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz and Prime Minister Donald Tusk before the government meeting, Warsaw 08/10/2025
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Zbyszek Kaczmarek / Forum / Forum Polish Photographers Agency
There are various factions in your formation, you were chosen as the candidate for deputy prime minister by a small majority – do you see the risk of Poland 2050 breaking up?
Every party has factions, Poland 2050 is democratic, pluralistic, and has never been a leading party. We were the only party in the coalition that conducted a democratic process of selecting a candidate for deputy prime minister. So I have a democratic mandate to perform this function.
Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz presents the conditions for changing the Speaker of the Sejm
So you are not afraid of the breakup of this party?
Exactly – for the reasons mentioned above – no.
Will Szymon Hołownia really cease to be the Speaker of the Sejm?
He said that he would fulfill the oral and written coalition agreements and expected the same from partners – acting on a “win-win” basis. As Poland 2050, we respect the oral decision to appoint Radosław Sikorski as Deputy Prime Minister. We trusted our coalition partner in this matter.
What steps do you expect from the coalition partners to ensure that Marshal Hołownia ceases to perform his function?
It's time for the coalition partner to trust us, we will definitely keep the agreement. Personal discussions weaken the government. Therefore, it is crucial that the entire process of replacing the Speaker and appointing me as Deputy Prime Minister goes smoothly and harmoniously.
Is it possible to change the position of Speaker before you are appointed Deputy Prime Minister?
We need to achieve a state in which all parties feel confident and are not intentionally kept in uncertainty about their mutual obligations.
And what could give you the sense of confidence that would enable you to change the Speaker of the Sejm?
For example, the Prime Minister's declaration that he will act in accordance with the arrangements and appoint the person indicated by Polska 2050 as deputy prime minister. And let us all join hands and deal with people's affairs and governance.
Taking into account the dynamics of the situation and the mood in the coalition, how high is the risk of its collapse?
Nothing is given forever, so the coalition must be cared for as the greatest good. Taking care of the coalition is everyone's responsibility, and KO bears the largest share of it because it has the most power. A lot depends on how it respects partnership, cooperation, and the above-mentioned “win-win” principle. As I have already said, the coalition must talk much less about itself and much more about what has been done and the plan for the future. Talking about the Deputy Prime Minister's Poland 2050 project is harmful to everyone.
Do you have anything to complain about when it comes to conflicts in the coalition that spoil its image?
95 percent my actions in the coalition are cooperation. In the situations where I argued against it, it was about substantively important issues. This was the case, for example start-up loan. The current – favorable for buyers – situation on the housing market confirms that I was right.
Moreover, it is unfair to blame mainly Poland 2050 for the coalition disputes – the Left had a different opinion, e.g. on the issue of reducing health insurance premiums, and the Polish People's Party had a different opinion on abortion.
Let's go back to PiS – you just considered the period of their rule as harmful to Poland. However, in order to defend the country against the PiS-Confederation coalition, would you be ready to cooperate with PiS after the next elections?
With PiS as it is today, I don't see any possibility. They never accounted for the theft from 2015-2023, they never acknowledged that anything was wrong during that period, which bodes poorly for the future if they were to return to power.
But I don't see any possibility of cooperation with the Confederation, and I have read such signals from KO. I consider the Confederation to be a formation representing Darwinian liberalism – if you are rich, young and healthy, you will survive, and the rest are doomed to be eaten. I also reject the typical attitude towards other people.
There is a race against time regarding the National Reconstruction Plan
Let's move on to the topic of KPO – in the wake of the so-called KPO scandal related to questionable subsidies for the hotel and catering industry, questions are increasingly being asked whether this money is being spent by force?
Driven by concern for public finances and the idea of ”not spending by force”, we have prepared the latest revision of the KPO, which reduces the borrowing part of the plan.
As for the hotel and catering industry, subsidies from the KPO implemented the previous government's commitment to companies unprecedentedly harmed by Covid-19. However, we draw a conclusion from the whole matter – the time for subsidy support has passed – we are shifting more towards loans to companies, and subsidies will be directed mainly to breakthrough technologies.
In hindsight, do you not consider it a mistake to remove subsidies for the production of active substances for medicines in Poland from the KPO? For example, China's recent actions regarding rare earth elements show how much risk we take by becoming dependent on the import of active substances and in what the Prime Minister calls “pre-war” times.
In the case of active substances, this was the decision of the leading Ministry of Development and Technology.
That's true. However, domestic drug producers deny that they sought such a change in the KPO. Moreover, on other matters that were not formally within your competence, you did not hesitate to oppose other ministries.
This change in the KPO is more than compensated by the Polish Fund for Critical Technologies Support, created by me from EU funds. The industry can apply for support from it on very favorable terms.
Don't you also see a mistake in removing the subsidy for Izera from the KPO? Former Minister of State Assets, Jakub Jaworowski, said during a meeting at Polityka Insight that “unfortunately” Jizera was moved to the lending sectionwhich “de facto at that stage meant a death sentence for the entire project.”
Instead of a subsidy, there is a preferential loan. The implementation of the original assumptions was unrealistic due to limited time. Moreover, support for companies from public money should partly have a commercial dimension, and not simply award four billion subsidies.
I understand that you do not regret the decision to remove the milestone introducing contributions for civil law contracts from the KPO? This solution was intended to limit the current phenomenon of privatizing profits and socializing losses – one day we will all have to support people receiving starvation pensions because they paid too little contributions.
Removing mandatory contributions for civil law contracts from the KPO was an unequivocal decision of the Prime Minister. However, in return, we proposed a reform of the National Labor Inspectorate.
Isn't this reform at risk?
No – it is entered into the KPO with everyone's consent and will be implemented. Changes strengthening the position of the employee and PIP are needed in Poland.
Do you see a threat to the achievement of the goal of spending the entire subsidy part of the KPO – over PLN 113 billion?
Everything is in the hands of the ministries that implement individual investments and are literally racing against time. We will know how much of the subsidy money will be used at the very end, i.e. in a year.
Finally, I will ask about the negotiations of the country's medium-term development strategy – how are the consultations going, what comments are being made, and what may change in this document as a result?
There are a lot of comments regarding housing policy. They concern the regulation of rent, taxes – cadastral or taxes on unused land for construction. Many proposals refer to demographic policy or supporting smaller centers. Consultations last until the end of the month. I would like the government to adopt the strategy in winter, so that it would become the basis for negotiating the next EU financial perspective.
