Today in Warsaw, a protest is taking place involving both contractors and beneficiaries of the Clean Air program. Entrepreneurs who carried out various works under this initiative point to delays in the disbursement of grants. “This is an unbelievable injustice happening in our country right now. I have the impression that it is still either unnoticed or deliberately ignored by the current government,” said Małgorzata Golińska, former Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, on TV Republika.
Clean Air is one of the largest climate programs in Europe. It is implemented by NFOŚiGW in cooperation with the provincial funds for environmental protection and water management (WFOŚiGW). However, oversight of the program rests with the Ministry of Climate and Environment.
By design, the Clean Air program is intended to support the thermal modernization of Polish homes – for example, by replacing non-standard solid fuel boilers. The grants are intended for owners of single-family homes. In short, the program aims to reduce air pollution.
Initially well-received by Poles, the program gradually became a disaster, and the changes implemented during the coalition government of December 13 largely worked to the detriment – not only for companies as service providers and contractors but also for beneficiaries. In recent weeks, Polish entrepreneurs have been voicing their dissatisfaction due to… payment bottlenecks. These delays have caused even greater problems for hundreds of entrepreneurs across Poland, including issues with financial liquidity.
Protest in Warsaw
Today in Warsaw, a large protest of Clean Air program contractors is taking place. At the same time, Małgorzata Golińska, former Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, appeared on TV Republika.
She explained in more detail why Poles are protesting.
“Today, the situation looks terrible. Even though the minister shows brilliant statistics about how well the program is going, anyone with even the slightest understanding of Clean Air knows that it has been ruined by the current leadership of the ministry. Secondly, it hits those who were supposed to benefit from it – the poorest people who were supposed to replace their heating systems – and the entrepreneurs who carried out the work, insulated houses, and replaced heating systems for those beneficiaries. These people have not been paid for the services they performed,” she explained.
She continued: “Moreover, in mainstream media, they are being called criminals, fraudsters, and ordinary Poles are being encouraged to sue them. At the same time, entrepreneurs are instructed – as they quoted me – to ‘collect from this pathology,’ meaning the poorest, to seize their homes, and demand money from them. This is an unbelievable injustice happening in our country right now. I have the impression that it is still either unnoticed or deliberately ignored by the current government.”
According to Golińska, “here we are dealing with a situation where the program was temporarily halted. Then it was restarted, but under changed rules.”
People who performed certain works under the old rules are now expected to adapt to the new rules, at the risk of not receiving funds. Another problem is that entrepreneurs are being told to finance these tasks themselves. – she added.