Poland has taken over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months, following Hungary’s controversial tenure.
Underneath the slogan “Safety, Europe!”, Poland is taking up the presidency of the Council of the European Union, marking the beginning of a six-month rotation for the second time in Poland’s historical past.
The nation in presidency is tasked with guiding the council’s work and representing all member states in negotiations with different EU establishments. The spot rotates among the many EU’s 27 member states each six months, with Hungary wrapping up its controversial tenure in December.
Marked by the continuing conflict in neighbouring Ukraine and escalating tensions on the Polish-Belarusian border — which Prime Minister Donald Tusk has known as an instance of “hybrid warfare” — the Polish Presidency will take a broad view of strengthening European safety and defence.
Which means that Poland “will help actions strengthening European safety in all its dimensions: exterior, inner, data, financial, power, meals and well being”, in line with the official program of the Polish presidency.
In the course of the EU Presidency, Poland additionally plans to host over 300 official conferences, 22 casual councils of EU ministers, and about 200 cultural occasions.
Made up of all heads of state and authorities of EU member states, the European Council units the agenda and priorities of the EU, and debates laws proposed by the EU Fee.
“We’re ready to take over the presidency,” Adam Szłapka, the Minister for European Union Affairs, stated in a press convention in December, “however for us it is also necessary that Europe speaks our language and notices what’s most necessary.”
“Nothing is extra necessary in the present day than taking accountability for our joint safety,” he added.
The Polish presidency follows a controversial Hungarian one. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán used his presidency to repeatedly block EU sanctions towards Russia amid the conflict in Ukraine, and tout his controversial “peace mission” for ending the conflict.
Poland’s rise to the forefront of the European Union additionally comes at important level within the nation’s home politics The rotation is simply over a 12 months after the ousting of Poland’s national-conservative Regulation and Justice authorities, and only some months earlier than presidential elections — which many see as a check for Tusk’s Civic Coalition get together.
Poland, underneath the Regulation and Justice authorities, was as soon as outlier to what have been considered as shared European values and customary pursuits. The nation confronted fines and withheld funds for sparring with EU management on points corresponding to LGBTQ+ rights and migration, and for controversial judicial reforms that the EU deemed democratic backsliding.
“We now have taken full accountability for what is occurring and can occur in Poland within the coming years,” Tusk, who’s decisively extra pro-EU than his predecessor, stated in a press release given upon Poland’s taking of the presidency.
“What we inherited implores us to make troublesome choices.”
