How important are the rotating presidencies of the Council of the EU? Journalistic experience shows that some presidencies are to remember, some to forget.
Some EU countries say they aim for a low-profile presidency. Others reach for the sky. Take the first Polish presidency in 2011. At the time, the EU was still reeling from the eurozone crisis, and Poland’s optimism and Europhilia were definitely a boon.
Warsaw took the “exciting challenge” of countering a wave of Euroscepticism and convincing other members of the Union that the European project truly is a “great thing.”
This is what Donald Tusk, the country’s prime minister, at the time, told a group of Brussels journalists in Warsaw on 1 July 2011. He had recently won the elections for the second time since 2007, which was widely seen as good news for the EU.
Fast forward to today, the second Polish Presidency is about to begin and Tusk is once again prime minister.
Although Tusk did not exactly win the elections in 2023, with the Eurosceptic PiS (ECR) coming first, he was the one who managed to form a coalition government. This was – again – considered good news for Europe.
In fact, Tusk served as president of the European Council between 2014 and 2019, navigating the EU through Brexit negotiations and various crises. Because of his wealth of experience, some even started to call him “the new emperor of Europe.”
While he again held the top job at home, another Donald was elected president of the US for the second time. The two Donalds are on opposite sides of the ideological spectrum, but at least they know each other, and analysts believe there is room for cooperation in the interests of European security.
Poland is the largest country to join the EU since 2004, not to mention that it is a diplomatic powerhouse.
Poland’s chief diplomat, Radosław Sikorski, who enjoys international fame, including in the US, with 1.2 million followers on X, will also be in office for the second time while Poland holds the six-month EU presidency.
As Sikorski said recently, for the needs of the presidency, Poland is not only reinforcing its Permanent Representation to the EU with more than 150 people, but also staffing the Polish Embassy in Tehran – a clear indication of its ambition to unblock the Iran nuclear deal.
Not to mention that Poland is resuming the work of the Polish Embassy in Pyongyang, potentially laying the groundwork for a future EU representation in North Korea.
For its 2025 presidency, Poland has presented what it calls “an ambitious” programme, the main goal of which is to implement the priorities set around security.
It is no secret that Russia poses an existential threat to Europe, the greatest since the end of the Second World War, Poland says, arguing that member states should increase their defence spending and keep it at a level commensurate with the threats.
For the record, Poland plans to increase its defence spending to 4.7% of its GDP by 2025, more than double NATO’s 2% target.
This year alone, Warsaw’s €33.6 billion defence bill could exceed that of its ex-Communist central European and Baltic neighbours combined – not to mention Germany, which is not even meeting its 2% pledge.
Cybersecurity and the fight against disinformation also top Poland’s to-do list. Its presidency programme promises to strengthen coordination against information manipulation and improve the EU’s ability to prevent and mitigate the effects of hostile actions in cyberspace.
Starting 2025 with Poland at the helm seems like a good bet for the EU – certainly better than Denmark, a country that previously said it wanted a low-profile presidency, or tiny Cyprus.
By the way, Copenhagen will take over from Poland on 1 June 2025, followed by Nicosia. In the trio of presidencies Poland-Denmark-Cyprus, Warsaw will have a role to play – something Europe will welcome very much.
[Edited by Martina Monti/Daniel Eck]“}]]
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