Six European Union states have asked Poland to explain why it is not paying billions of euro that foreign construction firms say they are owed for work carried out under an EU-backed road-building programme.

Poland’s state road operator has been hit with a 1.2bn zloty (€299m) compensation claim by Irish builder SRB Civil Engineering, the latest fallout from a troubled construction spree ahead of the Euro 2012 football tournament.

The construction firm Sisk is taking legal action against the Polish state in an effort to recoup the €50m-€60m losses it will incur in its 2011 annual accounts on the back of a failed road-building project in the country.