Analysis in Brief
- The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union began on 1 January 2025 and will last until 30 June 2025. Our country is chairing the Council for the second time.
- The motto of the Polish Presidency is, “Safety, Europo”. Its priorities include 7 dimensions of European security.
- The Presidency is simply a major challenge for you: in organisational and political terms. The country must be an honest and impartial mediator. He can't go public with his own interests.
Council of the European Union
The Council of the European Union (Council; EU) together with the European Parliament and the European Commission creates the alleged "institutional triangle", the Community method decision-making centre. At the Council, ministers and experts from all associate States of the European Union:
1. negociate and enact EU law,
2. conclude global agreements on behalf of the Union,
3. adopt the budget,
4. make an EU abroad and safety policy,
5. coordinate associate States' policies in different areas [1].
In short, the Council has legislative, budgetary, creative, control and global competences. It is simply a negotiating arena for associate States.
In accordance with Article 16 of the Treaty on European Union, the Council shall be composed of 1 typical at ministerial level from each associate State. It has the power to make commitments on behalf of the Government of the State which it represents and to exercise the right to vote [2].
The Council shall meet for meetings in configurations which disagree according to the subject substance of the meeting. Currently, the compositions are 10 and are divided by policy area, e.g. the Agriculture and Fisheries Council (AGRIFISH) or the Education, Youth, Culture and athletics Council (EYCS). The 2 Council configurations must always exist: they are called treaty compositions. These are the General Affairs Council and the abroad Affairs Council [3].
The Council (in each configuration) meets at 3 separate levels.
The first level is the level of committees and working groups. It consists of government officials (low and mediate level) of the associate States. They shall examine each draft law in order to prepare the Council's decisions in substance.
The second level is the level of Permanent Representatives, i.e. Ambassadors from the associate States. Their task is the final (taking into account the political context) preparation of Council decisions. The level of Permanent Representatives itself is divided into respective warehouses. The main 2 are Coreper I and Coreper II. Coreper I consists of Deputy Heads of Permanent Representations of associate States to the EU (Deputy Ambassadors). Coreper II, on the another hand, consists of the heads of permanent representations of associate States to the EU, namely ambassadors.
The 3rd level of the Council's work is the level of Ministers who take the Council's decisions.
Presidency of the Council of the European Union
After the Lisbon Treaty came into force, there are 2 types of Presidency: permanent and rotating.
The Permanent Presidency is only present in the abroad Affairs Council. The composition at ministerial level shall be chaired by the advanced typical of the Union for abroad Affairs and safety Policy. Representatives of the advanced typical shall direct the lower levels of meetings.
The rotating Presidency is present at all levels of the Council, besides at the level of the working groups and Coreper. According to the trio, the Presidency holds 3 associate States for 18 months. In practice, however, cooperation between the 3 countries is only symbolic and the Presidency has a single state for six months. The presidencies shall be held between 1.01-30.06 and 1.07-31.12.
The Presidency's task is to prepare and direct the deliberations of the Council's interior bodies at all levels. The Presidency shall guarantee the continuity of EU action, the order of legislative procedures and the cooperation of the associate States.
The 2 main tasks of the Presidency are to plan and conduct meetings of the Council and its bodies and to represent the Council in relations with the another EU institutions. The Presidency State besides sets out the alleged priorities to be pursued during the Presidency.
The Presidency is simply a major challenge for the state: organisational and political. The country must be an honest and impartial mediator. He can't go public with his own interests.
The order of the Presidency of the Council of the EU is not accidental. It is carried out by each associate State and the order is laid down in a decision of the European Council [4].
Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union
Currently Poland holds the rotating Presidency in a group with Denmark and Cyprus. The Polish Presidency began on 1 January 2025 and will last until 30 June 2025. Our country has presided over the Council meetings for the second time. We previously held the EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2011. In 2011, Denmark and Cyprus entered the trio of the Presidency together with Poland.
The president of the Council of Ministers is liable for the organisation and conduct of the Presidency, as the Minister for European Union does not have his own ministry. In 2020, the European Affairs Unit was transferred from the Ministry of abroad Affairs to the Buff Chancellery. On 13 December 2023, Adam Szpiek was appointed Minister of EU Affairs. The Presidency is liable for the Department of Preparation and Conduct of the Council of the European Union, which is supervised by the Plenipotentiary for the Preparation and Conduct of the Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2025. Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka was appointed as a proxy.
At this point, it is worth to note the Cooperation Act, i.e. the Act of 11 March 2004. It sets out in item issues of cooperation between the Council of Ministers and the Sejm and the Senate. It requires the Council of Ministers to cooperate with Parliament on matters related to Poland's membership in the Union.
In 2023 this law was amended to give the president of Poland fresh crops during the Polish Presidency. The Council of Ministers is now required to submit proposals to the president of the Republic of Poland for candidates for positions specified as: a associate of the European Commission, a associate of the Court of Auditors or a justice of the Court of Justice of the European Union. On the another hand, the president agrees or refuses to appoint candidates for the position listed in the Act.
However, the most crucial change concerns the participation of the president of the Republic of Poland in the REU meetings. During the Presidency, the president of the Republic of Poland takes part in meetings of the European Council and in global meetings with the participation of the European Union, where the presence of Heads of State or Government of the associate States is envisaged [5]. Until now, only the Prime Minister represented Poland in the European Council meetings. This is justified by the decision issued by the Constitutional Court in 2009 in which the Constitutional Tribunal appointed this function to the Prime Minister.
Poland includes the presidency in periods of uncertainty and anxiety. There is simply a increasing geopolitical tension and Europe is constantly facing the effects of Russia's armed aggression on Ukraine. Uncertainty besides exacerbates Donald Trump's win in the United States presidential election, the mediate East war, as well as accelerated elections in Germany. The Polish Presidency is besides the first after the election of the fresh composition of the European Commission and follows immediately after Hungary's reasonably controversial leadership. Therefore, the Polish Presidency has set its nonsubjective to support actions that strengthen all dimensions of European security.
The motto of the Polish Presidency is, “Safety, Europo”. Its priorities include 7 dimensions of European security:
- ability to defend,
- protection of people and borders,
- resistance to abroad interference and disinformation,
- security and freedom of business,
- energy transformation,
- competitive and resilient agriculture,
- health safety [6].
On the authoritative website of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the programme is available with the main directions of action depending on the composition of the Council. For example, the General Affairs Council (GAC) programme includes a evidence of continuing efforts to strengthen and defend EU values internally and externally. It was stressed that the work of the Council during the Polish Presidency will focus, among others, on the protection of the regulation of law, enlargement policy and the improvement of cooperation with the United Kingdom of large Britain and Northern Ireland and the preparation of negotiations for the fresh Multiannual Financial Framework.
The programme of the economical and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) announced that the Polish Presidency will implement the economical governance framework, improve the Single marketplace and strengthen the competitiveness of the European economy, primarily by strengthening the union of capital markets [7].
During the Polish Presidency a number of events were planned, both authoritative and cultural. In Poland, 300 authoritative meetings will be held in 24 cities.
The first informal gathering of ministers will take place on 21-22 January in Warsaw during the meetings of the Council on Education, Youth, Culture and athletics (EYCS) [8]. The next informal ministerial gathering will be held on 30-31 January at the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers meeting.
Summary
There are many factors that are the success of the Presidency. The main areas are: gathering the objectives set, implementing the programme and managing EU work. The country must reconcile national, transnational and another decision-making interests. Problem solving, consensus building and crisis consequence are important.
There are besides many interior challenges facing the Presidency. It must guarantee the efficiency of the coordination model, resolve the competency disputes between state authorities, set political objectives, prepare authoritative staff and logistical facilities, as well as the national political calendar (presidential elections in Poland on the second half of 2025).
The Polish Presidency is at a hard minute – a time of global turbulence and change. We face many challenges and we must face a tense situation in the region and in the world. This situation is much more complicated than during the first Polish Presidency in 2011.
Expectations towards Poland are very large. It's a chance for our country to show off and show off on the best side. Will the Polish Presidency usage the next six months to implement its priorities? We'll know the answer in July.
Bibliography
[1] Council of the European Union, Council of the European Unionfor: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/Council-eu/ [accessed 6.01.2025].
[2] Treaty on European Union, consolidated version OJ C 202, 7.06.2016.
[3] The Council of the European Union, Council of the European Unionfor: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/Council-eu/ [accessed 6.01.2025].
[4] COUNCIL DECISION (EU) 2016/1316 of 26 July 2016 amending Decision 2009/908/EU laying down implementing measures for the European Council Decision on the exercise of the Presidency of the Council and on the Presidency of the Council preparatory bodies, OJ L 208, 2.08.2016.
[5] Act of 28 July 2023 on the amendment of the Act on the Cooperation of the Council of Ministers with the Sejm and the legislature on matters related to the membership of the Republic of Poland in the European Union and the Act on the Committee for European Affairs, OJ 1914.
[6] the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Presidency prioritiesfor: https://polish-priority.consilium.europa.eu/en/programme/priority-presidencies/ [accessed 6.01.2025].
[7] Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Programme of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Unionfor: https://polish-presidenty.consilium.europa.eu/media/gt3pw5w/Polish-presidence programme-in-Council-Union-European.pdf [accessed 6.01.2025].
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