Anna Kulińska | In Principle

On 3 May 2024, Poland marked the third anniversary of submission of the first version of its National Recovery Plan to the European Commission. On the eve of that date, information was released on disbursement of the first funds under the plan, in the amount of c. EUR 6.3 billion. But this is not the only good news for those interested in financial support from European funds. Legislative work is also underway to help absorb funds the National Recovery Plan and other European funds.

In 2020, the EU’s General Court held in T-745/17, Kerkosand v Commission, that SME status is determined based on three criteria verifiable in two successive accounting periods (known as the “two accounting years rule”). It has been four years since the General Court issued this ruling, but the authorities acting as intermediate or managing institutions under EU programmes, as well as national administrative courts (albeit with commendable exceptions), continue to take the position that changes in a beneficiary’s corporate ownership structure (acquisition of a majority of its shares) result in automatic loss of SME status on the date of the change.