Poland’s Liberal and left-leaning civil society organisations have appealed to the centre-left government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk to make good a shortfall in their funding.
This has been caused by the decision by US President Donald Trump’s administration to suspend USAID funding for at least 90 days pending an assessment of its relevance to US foreign policy.
The chair of the NGO network Watchdog Polska, Katarzyna Batko-Tołuć, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on February 12 that the government was honour-bound to help the “third sector” as civil society groups are sometimes referred to.
“Some organisations are going to have to lay off staff and stop humanitarian aid and human rights projects as a result of the USAIDS cuts and we need help from the government,” said Batko-Tołuć.
NGO lawyer Dominika Bychawska-Siniarska told PAP: “American aid money was present in Poland in the 1990s and the early noughties and then departed, but this changed around four years ago when USAID during the Biden administration once again issued grants in our part of the world for pro-democracy campaigns, independent media, the rule of law, equality and human rights.”
While the Polish government has expressed sympathy for the situation in which the groups found themselves, it has admitted to PAP that it did not keep records of all US government grants for Polish organisations and therefore could not assess the scale of the problem.
Batko-Tołuć admitted that even the NGO monitors were not fully conversant with the number of groups actually funded through USAID because much of it was provided through USAID international grantees such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In a statement from the chancellery of Poland’s PM, the government said the issue would be discussed by the Public Benefit Council. That body is responsible for advising the government on funding for civil society. The chancellery added that the State budget for 2025 “includes an additional €17 million for the government’s programme of backing civil society.”
Among the beneficiaries of USAID largesse in Poland alongside civil society groups was the left- and liberal-leaning media.
According to Conservative portal Niezależna.pl ,“millions of dollars went to Polish Liberal media” with daily Gazeta Wyborcza allegedly receiving $20 million (€19.2 million) from 2016 to 2023. The left-wing journal Krytyka Polityczna was reported to have scooped $5 million (€4.8 million) over the same period.
Former US State Department official Mike Benz on February 12 told Conservative broadcaster TV Republika that the US sponsored the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
That was set up during the Reagan US presidency in the 1980s as a bipartisan tool to campaign for democracy and against Communism during Poland’s last Conservative (PiS) government and which sponsored organisations supporting that.
NED sponsored the “Journal for Democracy” ,which advised Tusk’s government to take action against PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński.
“The new government should focus on whether and how suspects can be held accountable for specific crimes. These cases may only be the tip of the iceberg. Naturally, the leader of PiS Jarosław Kaczyński, should be held responsible,” it said.
Another highly political beneficiary of USAID funds was the Tour de Constitution campaign group. That sent lawyers to provincial centres to agitate opposition to the then-PiS government’s judicial reform policies, claiming they were allegedly unconstitutional. This body was to receive around $20,000 (€19,200) in 2025.
Tens of thousands of dollars have also been made available to election watchdogs sympathetic to the Liberal and Left parties that published information about the views of candidates in elections. TV Republika has claimed that was “tantamount to attempts at manipulation”.
USAID funding was also provided to organisations attempting to help migrants who had illegally crossed the border between Poland and Belarus.
Notable among them was the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which has claimed the money was going to promote local organisations dealing with migration. It said as a result of the cuts some of those had lost between 70 per cent and 80 per cent of their funding.
US aid has also been funding pro-LGBT groups. The Campaign Against Homophobia received $100,000 (€96,200) in support from the US Department of Labour last year and had planned to spend $75,000 (€72,150) this year on a campaign for the introduction of same sex civil unions.
According to data available from the US Embassy in Warsaw USAID provided another $170,000 (€163,550) to fund LGBT campaigns including conferences, legal aid, labour market rights and promoting LGBT education.
It has also provided $175,000 (€168,360) for projects to help the Ukrainian minority in Poland and $230,000 (€221,280) for Jewish heritage promotion work.
