The text by Marty Tycner is the consequence of the cooperation of Political Criticism with independent Polish and Hungarian editorials, in which we look at crucial issues from the position of both countries.
Concerto This is Warsaw!, exhibition Warsaw – a city of free people, carpet with 14,000 flowers arranged in the logo of the Polish Presidency and a peculiar light-music show in the Multimedia Fontann Park. Thus Warsaw welcomed the beginning of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in July 2011. Occasional flower flowers besides adorned Gliwice and Rybnik and my Warsaw housing cooperative “Energy”, which on this occasion received a diploma from the then president of the capital Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. All this as part of the action “Presidence in Flowers”.
At press conferences and from the speakers there were loud words. "A historical moment," said president Bronisław Komorowski. The late mediterist Prof. Henryk Samsonowicz compared the Presidency of the Council to the Gniezno convention due to the fact that it “confirmed Poland's place in Europe”. A gigantic programme of cultural events throughout the continent was planned. A promotional animation, in which a dancer in a shirt with a Slavic motif kidnaps to dance initially a small enthusiastic, cool female in a blue dress, created an Oscar-nominated Tomek Baginski. The Presidency budget was worth PLN 500 million.
Today, it's a small less.
With the beginning of 2025, we started another Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which will last six months. Recalling today's pump of 2011, it is impossible to miss how much it was a sign of its time. Just 2 years later, on 2 May, Komorowski took part in the origin of the “happy patriots” at which a chocolate eagle was held. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly lost his election run for a second term. The society expressed fatigue with an empty symbolism that had already prevailed from the celebration of 2011. During preparations for the Presidency and during the Presidency, much was said about how groundbreaking it is political, how it strengthens Poland's position in the Union, but small about how it is actually to be built – due to the fact that not with Aprilers.
The sound around the Presidency of 2011 cannot be overlooked by the barely healed periphery complexes. 14 years ago, whatever the large planet had to say about Poland, it mattered much more than what Poles and Poles themselves thought about it. These were the times of the public tv programme Europe can be likedwho followed thousands of spectators with baking on their faces, and about the country on the Vistula River spoke of people whose only competence was Western descent. Polish public opinion and the political class were favored, in particular, by any global and European centre of praise and appreciation. And the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (or the "presidence in the European Union" – as wrongly but most likely deliberately defined by the media) was expected to mean that for six months the West would perceive to Poland, not the another way around.
Comparing the presidencies of 2011 and 2025, 1 can experience déjà vu: then Donald Tusk was besides Prime Minister and the abroad Minister Radosław Sikorski. 1 of the Presidency's priorities was the signing of the Association Treaty between Ukraine and the EU, which is now the beginning of the first cluster of accession negotiations. But there are quite a few differences. It is notable that the budget of the incoming Presidency is besides PLN 500 million, which, given inflation, means that the Polish government intends to issue clearly little than 14 years ago. There is besides little talk about entering Europe and recognising the Union, and more about matters to be dealt with and method details of meetings and negotiations.
On the 1 hand, it is simply a reality check. In practice, the Presidency gives micre – and in any case much little than the former, exalted press titles suggested – the anticipation of influencing the EU reality. For six months, representatives of the country holding the Presidency have put together an agenda of meetings of the Council of the European Union, so they can decide which proposals the European Commission proposes to velocity up and postpone. They then make consensus on individual issues between EU countries and thus may have a small influence on the final form of the proposed legislation.
The Presidency besides organises debates and, if it wishes, informal summits of EU leaders, and presents a cultural programme. There is no way to go out with fresh initiatives, unless it assembles a coalition of states and convinces the European Commission to do so – but it can besides do so outside the Presidency.
Not specific
Changes in ETS2, or the extended carbon trading system, which the Polish government would gladly postpone and loosen, are mentioned as 1 of the themes of the Presidency – but in fact Poland will search this mainly through another channels.
In the first half of 2025, the European Commission may propose a Return Directive to facilitate the deportation of immigrants. Although 1 of the objectives of the Polish Presidency is "to fight the instrumentalisation of migration", the Commission's proposal will not have a direct link with it. At least Tusk, A freshly baked defender of EU borders, lobbying in various ways for hardening migration policy in the EU, can show it as its success.
Moreover, the Council of the European Union itself has no central function in the strategy of EU institutions. The power in the EU is shared between the Commission, Parliament and the Council, in which the positions of the countries converge. There are 2 EU councils. The European Council, which gives direction to the Union's external policies, for example, decides on sanctions, has heads of state and government. She has a permanent president – late the erstwhile Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa. The second council is the Council of the European Union, which has applicable ministers from the associate States. It is collected in 10 configurations (General Affairs, economical and Financial Affairs, Competitiveness, etc.), and 9 of them are chaired by the applicable Minister from the country holding the Presidency. The 10th configuration (Foreign Affairs Council) is chaired by the EU advanced typical for abroad Affairs, a erstwhile Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas in December.
It can be said that the Presidency has direct control over little than half of the EU's key institutions.
Poland, like all country, presented the priorities of its Presidency. Its subject is to be safety in 7 aspects. At first glance, the proposals are rather specific. Change the way the Union finances defence. Change Logic Green Dealso that it does not hinder the Union from competing with the US or China. The defence of the cohesion policy which is beneficial for Poland, whose rules would like to change the head of the European Commission. Negotiating the EU pharmaceutical package. It is very possible that Poland will accomplish its objectives in any areas, but if you look more closely, they are to trust in the majority on ‘effective moderating of discussions’, ‘making a advice to the European Commission’, ‘making a compromise on a controversial issue’.
An interview with Jim Cloos, who worked for 20 years at the European Union Council Secretariat and worked closely with the Presidency countries, was late released in the “Rzeczpospolita”. erstwhile asked the writer whether the Presidency's priorities substance at all, he replied sincerely: "No". "We all know what our priorities are and they evidently do not change. We know that now, for example, our answer to Trump or Ukraine's future is crucial, that is, in general, safety issues. Any Presidency would have this as a priority. This is not a Polish agenda, it is simply a European agenda. The question of further action following Draghi's study (on the competitiveness of the EU economy – ed.) is besides obvious."
The Presidency is so a small spectacular decision forward and decision accents, tedious and hard to sale to the public. possibly that is why Poland wants, as the media reports, to tackle the issue of the change of time from winter to summertime due to the pandemic and war. The Union has been preparing to decision distant from the change in time, and this is simply a substance that could be closed in six months with the negotiations well conducted. This would possibly not be a precedence among the challenges facing Europe and the world, but surely felt for average bread-eaters, possibly inflaming discussion and easy to tell. Unlike in terms of competitiveness or the common agricultural policy, all European citizen and citizen has a clear view of whether they like summertime or winter. Therefore, it may be possible that in this alternatively side issue the Polish Presidency will be the biggest image success.
Scheda by Orbán
But there is another reason for a more peaceful approach to the Presidency than before. Poland present understands better how the Union acts as a whole. And in fact, not just wishful, it approaches its decision nucleus. The Presidency is part of a complex game that the Polish authorities can play rather skillfully. Donald Tusk is simply a golden boy of the Union, an experienced Eurocrat (he was the head of the European Council), and after the last elections he was hailed by the European mainstream as a slayer of "right-wing populism". So it grows into an crucial figure in the European layout, especially since at the same time Olaf Scholz's office in Germany fallsin France Emmanuel Macron puts out further government crises.
For this reason, due to the war in Ukraine, the eyes of Europe and the planet are turned to the east flank of NATO, and the Polish authorities (giving justice: both present and previous) are effectively taking on the function of local leader. It is besides crucial that against the background of powerful, but weakening Germany and stagnation in many countries of the Union, the Polish economy is dynamic, increasingly strong, even signs of coming out of the trap of average improvement are visible: real wages are rising, and the structure of the economy is changing to a bit more innovative.
If the government plays well, the strengthening of Poland's position can accelerate for the next six months. In January in the U.S. The second president will start Donald Trump, and this means a variety of shocks for Europe: economic, diplomatic, defence. The Union will gotta take a fresh course towards the United States. At the same time, it is possible that talks about stopping fighting in Ukraine will begin. Poland will face a dilemma or request participation in them – due to the fact that it will build its position, but it may mean that the Polish government will put its hand on a solution that is very painful for Ukraine. However, it will undoubtedly be a minute to show itself internationally.
Six months ago erstwhile The Presidency of the Council of the European Union took HungaryPrime Minister Viktor Orbán embarked on a peace mission of his own idea. On July 2 he met Volodymyr Zelenski in Kiev, on July 5 in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, on July 8 in Beijing with Xi Jinping, and on July 10 and 12 in Washington with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Trump, then a Republican presidential candidate. He wanted to persuade the powers active in the conflict to sit at the negotiating table. An unconsulted detour sparked a rage in Brussels. At the time, head of the European Council, Charles Michel wrote to the Hungarian Prime Minister that he had no "no role" in representing the EU on the global stage, and EU Commissioners in boycotts stopped appearing at the EU Council.
Six months passed, the global situation changed, and Orbán was not an EU favourite before his mission. Today, Tusk and Tusk would most likely get hit for supporting the presidency in voluntary global initiatives, but he will surely get distant with it with delicate pointing at it with well calculated movements. So, while the Presidency as specified will not make Poland start giving out cards in the EU or in European global policy, in the long word it will let us to prosecute our interests more effectively. A separate issue is what these interests are and who defines them. By the way of the Presidency, we can see the process of intensive lobbying for various solutions, mainly from business.
Although the next six months can strengthen the position of the Polish government on the global arena, there is simply a danger that real achievements will be overshadowed by the blown rhetoric and pompous occurrences. The Presidency coincides almost 1:1 with the election run before the presidential election, and what can be more tempting for Polish authorities than the promotion of the ruling camp for "over 300 events" in cities across Poland, where besides candidate KO Rafał Trzaskowski may be?
Time will show whether this time the stories about Polish achievements will be filled with content adequate to convince voters.
