On Tuesday, July 2, the European Commission agreed to the changes proposed by Poland to the National Recovery Plan. The modifications consisted, among other things, of replacing the tax on combustion cars with subsidies for the purchase of electric cars.
The Polish government adopted such a revised KPO on April 30. “There will be no tax on the ownership of combustion cars in Poland! The European Commission has positively considered the application of the Ministry of Climate and Environment in this matter,” announced then Minister of Climate Paulina Hennig-Kloska. “We are replacing the stick with a carrot,” she wrote on social media. What will the new law look like in reality?
The tax on combustion cars has been transformed into an environmental fee
As indicated by “”, despite the abandonment of the plan to introduce a tax on the ownership of passenger cars with combustion engines, constructed according to the “polluter pays” principle, in the first quarter of 2026 the so-called environmental fee will be introduced. As part of the environmental fee, owners of passenger cars and delivery vehicles with combustion engines will be forced to pay an amount depending on the emission of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
It is not known what the nature of the new environmental fee will be. It is also not clear whether it will have to be paid only once or periodically. This information was not specified in the European Commission document. It is known, however, that entrepreneurs who own only one car may be exempt from the fee. This does not change the fact that for most of them the new fee will mean an increase in the costs of running a business.
Less and less time to spend KPO money
In 2024 alone, Poland wants to receive around 23 billion euros from the National Recovery Plan. In April, 6.3 billion euros went to Poland. The money appeared as part of a positively assessed application, contingent on guarantees of the independence of the judiciary. The five billion advance, which was transferred to the Polish account at the end of last year, was not linked to any conditions and was paid out under the REPowerEU program.
Importantly, the full 60 billion pool of money from the KPO that Poland is entitled to must be spent by 2026. However, talks have been underway for some time about extending this deadline. Poland is among a wider group of countries that are aware that they may have a problem spending EU money.
Source: Gazeta
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