2025-01-01 11:21 update: 2025-01-03, 15:09
Photo PAP/Paweł Supernak
Poland took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union from Hungary on January 1.
The Polish presidency, to be officially inaugurated on January 3, will run to the end of June 2025.
Poland holds the EU presidency for the second time. Previously, Poland was at the helm of the EU Council in the second half of 2011.
This time, in line with the motto 'Security, Europe!' the Polish Presidency will support activities strengthening European security in all its dimensions: external, internal, information, economic, energy, food, and health.
The Presidency of the Council of the EU rotates among the EU member states every six months. Representatives of the country holding the presidency are responsible for setting the agenda for meetings of the council's individual bodies and conducting negotiations among member states.
Over the next six months, Poland is set to host over 300 official meetings, including 22 informal councils of EU ministers.
The first on the agenda will be the meeting of education ministers scheduled for January 21-22, followed by the meeting of justice and home affairs ministers on January 30-31.
Poland, however, will not host an informal summit of EU leaders. It will be held in Brussels on February 3.
Nearly 200 cultural events have been planned during the Polish presidency.
The first one, a gala concert at the Teatr Wielki- Polish National Opera in Warsaw on January 3 will symbolically inaugurate the Polish presidency. It will be attended by the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa and a delegation from Ukraine.
More than 40,000 guests are expected to visit Poland from January to June.
The corps of the Polish presidency, including all officials involved in its preparation, numbers 3,000 people.
The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU coincides with the start of a new institutional cycle in the EU. The composition of the new European Commission was approved by the European Parliament at the end of November, and the first summit under Costa's chairmanship took place in mid-December.
Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, deputy minister for EU affairs, told PAP that the EU plans for the next five years are in the making.
"Our presidency will therefore be an opening presidency. Hence, we will not fight for how many cases we will close, but for how many we will set a new tone," she said.
Among the issues important for Poland are strengthening the security and resilience of the bloc and its competitiveness.
"As the presidency, we will strive to avoid the so-called overregulation. We remember the Draghi report (Former European Central Bank President Mario Draghi report on the future of European competitiveness - PAP) and other signals that indicate that an excess of regulations can harm us more than help us," Sobkowiak-Czarnecka said.
Member states holding the presidency work together closely in groups of three, called 'trios'. This system was introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.
In 2009, the Lisbon Treaty introduced the trio presidency system, which means cooperation between three countries holding successive presidencies. Poland will work closely together with Denmark, which will take over the presidency in July 2025, and Cyprus, which will hold it in the first half of 2026. (PAP)
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