Local governments headed by members of the ruling Law and Justice party received much more money under the Covid-19 financial support program than cities governed by the opposition. The decision was made by a committee packed with party loyalists who distributed the PLN 6 billion arbitrarily and without any written justification.
The governmental Local Investment Fund (FIL) is a 12 bn zloty-heavy financial support program for local governments whose budgets have suffered during the pandemic. In the second stage of distributing the grants, nearly all major cities were omitted. Local government officials protested, demanding that the Prime Minister and governors explain the rationale behind the distribution of nearly PLN 6 billion.- We were not informed about the criteria and existing procedures. We suspect that party affiliation might’ve been one of the crucial conditions here – said Piotr Grzelak, the deputy mayor of Gdańsk.
Provincial governors explained that the decisions concerning the distribution of funds were made by the central government, which in turn relied on the recommendations of a committee appointed specifically for this purpose. (…)
Pointing out that the Local Investment Fund was supposed to help local governments whose budgets have suffered during the pandemic, a group of MPs from the Pomorskie province (Barbara Nowacka, Piotr Adamowicz, Agnieszka Pomaska, Małgorzata Chmiel, Marek Rutka, Henryka Krzywonos-Strycharska) asked the Prime Minister to explain the decision.
source: wyborcza.pl
