EU supports small and medium enterprises and sustainable transport in Poland

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has signed a guarantee agreement with Poland’s national promotional bank, Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego (BGK), which will allow BGK to provide around PLN 10.5 billion (€2.5 billion) in loans to small and medium businesses.The EIF guarantee comes under the EU’s SME programme COSME and is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). As of December 2019, the Investment Plan has mobilised €458.8 billion of investment across the EU, including €21 billion in Poland, and supported more than one million start-ups and small and medium businesses. In addition, the European Commission has approved today an investment of €178 million from the Cohesion Fund to upgrade more than 48km of railway between Trzebinia, Oświęcim and Czechowice Dziedzice in Southern Poland. The project will make public transport a more attractive option, lead to less and safer road traffic, reduce travel times and meet interoperability requirements in line with the EU’s Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). Works include station infrastructure and facility improvements to ensure comfort and accessibility for people with reduced mobility. Signalling and lighting will be also modernised using low power consumption systems. The project will start to be operational as of June 2021.