Polish Presidency in the EU: What has been achieved and what should be done

With the end of June, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union besides concluded. Since the beginning of the year, for six months, our country has been liable for the work of 1 of the 4 main EU institutions.

It was already the second Polish Presidency since its accession to the EU in 2004. Previously, Poland led the work of the EU Council in the second half of 2011. Donald Tusk besides headed the government. 1 of the main successes was then the signing of the accession treaty with Croatia, so that the country could join the Union in 2013.

This year, however, the bar was higher. The European Union must face many crises: the war in Ukraine, the influx of illegal migrants, including in the framework of the Belarusian hybrid war, the warming of the climate, the pro-Russian phrase of parts of the associate States, the war in the mediate East, the beginning of the organization cycle or yet the return to the White home of Donald Trump, which immediately began threatening the Union with a customs war.

In addition, the Polish Presidency came immediately after the Hungarian Presidency, which raised immense controversy in the European Union. For a long time in Brussels, there were voices that Budapest should not take the lead due to its openly anti-EU and pro-Russian policies. In the end, the Hungarian Presidency failed to choice up, but Viktor Orban's government was increasingly isolated from 1 period to the next, and the leaders of the associate States boycotted events organised by the Hungarian Government on many occasions. Therefore, by many, this Presidency was seen as a failure of six months.

The Polish Presidency was so very hopeful, especially due to the fact that Donald Tusk, a politician who was very well known and liked in Brussels, was the president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019 and later the president of the European People's Party, the largest group in the European Parliament.

The Presidency of the EU Council took over Denmark on 1 July. So it is time to look at what Poland has achieved in the last six months and what it has not achieved.

Priorities of the Polish Presidency, i.e. primarily security

The slogan of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union was “Safety, Europo!”. This is what the government wanted to focus on during these six months. It was understood by Poland in many dimensions: external, internal, information, economic, energy, food and health.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk presented the objectives of the Polish Presidency at the end of January at the plenary session of the European Parliament. During the debate that followed the speech of the head of the government, Euro MPs mostly praised Poland's plans and provided support for its efforts to increase European security. However, there have besides been critical voices, especially from the Green and Left Euro MPs, who have accused Tusk of paying besides small attention to climate safety issues.

In the plan for the Presidency, the government presented 7 safety pillars. The first was the ability to defend itself. It was intended to focus primarily on the support of the European defence manufacture and combat capabilities, which plays a peculiar function in the face of Russia's aggressive policy and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

The second pillar was to defend people and borders. Poland wanted to focus on the protection of the European Union's external borders against hybrid threats, primarily related to the migration organised by the Belarusian and Russian authorities, which must be faced by the countries neighbouring them.

Another pillar was opposition to alien interference and misinformation. Within this framework, Poland planned to support democracy in the EU and to combat misinformation, which is becoming an expanding threat in the current digital society.

Ensuring the safety and freedom of economical activity is the 4th pillar of the Polish Presidency. Its main nonsubjective was to deepen the Single marketplace and reduce the bureaucratic burden to make European manufacture more competitive.

The 5th precedence was the energy transformation, in which Poland wanted to advance a complete departure from Russian energy imports and guarantee that the European Union does not shift from dependence on fossil fuels to dependence on the technologies and natural materials essential for the clean production of energy in Europe.

The penultimate pillar has been competitive and resilient agriculture, so ensuring food safety and support for farmers at a time erstwhile the European marketplace faces a possible flood of cheaper and lower quality products from 3rd countries specified as Ukraine and South American countries.

Health safety has been the last, seventh priority, and the digital transformation of wellness care, improving the intellectual wellness of children and young people, or diversifying the supply chains of medicines to the European market.

Main nonsubjective achieved. The EU talks about security

During the Polish Presidency, the word “security”, according to the plans of the government, was 1 of the most crucial on the EU agenda. Especially in the context of defence and military security.

One of the biggest successes is the adoption by the Union of the safety Enhancement Instrument (SAFE). Within this framework, a full of EUR 150 billion is expected to scope the associate States in the form of multiannual loans. This money is to be utilized to invest in the European defence manufacture in order to strengthen its production capacity. The funds will be used, among others, for air and rocket defences, artillery systems, ammunition, drones or cybersecurity. The SAFE instrument is the first specified large investment programme in EU defence capacity. Importantly, a large part of the money from the instrument can go to Poland. According to forecasts, we can receive as much as PLN 100 billion from the program.

In the first half of 2025, the European Commission presented a White Paper on European Defence – 2030 Preparedness and the 2030 ReArm Europe Preparedness Plan, according to which the Union plans to earmark €800 billion for defence purposes. This is further evidence that the EU has taken safety seriously.

Poland besides has a considerable credit in convincing the European Commission to let associate States to usage the national exit clause, so that defence spending is not taken into account in the excessive deficit procedure, which will let many countries to increase their defence spending.

The Polish Presidency was besides very active in EU policy towards Russia. A 16th and 17th package of sanctions was adopted in the course of the reform. The first, adopted on the 3rd anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine, struck the Russian military, oil, mining and energy sectors. The second, adopted 3 months later, imposed restrictions on, among others, 189 ships belonging to the Russian shadow fleet or the oil company Surgutneftegas. The 18th package of sanctions was besides prepared during the Polish Presidency. However, he was not accepted due to the veto of the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fica.

Economic and wellness security

Another subject widely addressed in the European Union is competitiveness and the related request for deregulation. During the Polish Presidency, efforts to simplify EU regulations have importantly accelerated. The European Commission has presented 5 simplification packages, the alleged "Omnibuses", which limit reporting and reporting obligations and facilitate investment for European businesses. These included sustainable development, investment, agriculture, SMEs and defence.

The conclusion of negotiations on the Pharmaceutical Package is besides an crucial success of the Polish government. The EU Council agreed in early June to start negotiations with the European Parliament on the improvement of the legislation, which includes improving accessibility to safer, cheaper alternatives to medicines and helping to make the European pharmaceutical industry. This allows the Council to sit down with the EP on the form of reforms. The 2 institutions will then gotta formally adopt the fresh rules so that they can enter into force.

Entry-Exit strategy or border safety

Poland can besides boast many actions on migration. In June, the Council unanimously supported the proposal to extend the temporary protection of more than 4 million Ukrainians residing in the EU until 4 March 2027.

During the Presidency, the European Commission besides presented the Common European strategy for Returns, a strategy to improve the procedure for returning irregular migrants from the Union.

The European Parliament was besides able to agree on the introduction of a digital border management system, the Entry-Exit strategy (EES). This strategy is intended to let for a more effective recognition of foreigners erstwhile entering and leaving the EU, thus reducing the anticipation of identity fraud and of exceeding the authorised period of residence in the Union. The agreement opens the way for both institutions to adopt the rules, so that the EES can be formally introduced.

End of energy dependence on Russia

The Polish Presidency besides has merit in terms of energy security. In the first half of the year, the Commission presented a strategy for full energy independency from Russia so that no country would import Russian fossil fuels anymore in 2027.

An agreement has been reached with the European Parliament to extend the rules on filling natural gas retention for 2 years and to complete the process of disconnecting the Baltic States from the Russian electricity grid and full connecting them to the EU network.

Many successes, but there are besides shortcomings

The Polish Presidency has undoubtedly achieved a lot in many areas. An area where achievements were not so crucial is the enlargement of the EU. It is actual that the Instrument for improvement and Growth of Moldova, which provides EUR 1.9 billion of financial support for this country and is intended to aid it integrate with the EU, and to open fresh clusters in negotiations with Albania and close almost 1 of the clusters with Montenegro. However, crucial advancement has not been made in negotiations with Ukraine and beginning the first cluster, mainly due to Hungary's opposition.

Other issues that have been somewhat neglected are the improvement of the ETS2, the EU's Emissions Trading System, electromobility, the Fair Transformation Fund and a broad climate policy. In this area, the Polish government cannot boast any greater success.

Political opponents besides accuse the government of insufficient attention to issues specified as the migration pact or the Mercosur agreement, which raises large concerns among Polish farmers.

The problem was besides the promotion of the Polish Presidency itself. During the conference 22 informal ministerial meetings were held in Poland, more than 300 expert meetings and more than 500 cultural events. However, the government could not effectively advance these events, nor boast about the successes achieved. This led to criticism, especially from the opposition, that Poland did not take advantage of the chance to lead the work of the EU Council.

However, it must be admitted that, despite any shortcomings, the Polish Presidency cannot be regarded as a failure, and the actions of the Polish government have been appreciated by EU leaders, including European Parliament president Roberta Metsola. In her opinion, she acknowledged that Polish ministers had done a “notable job” and that the work on key legal acts was going very smoothly.

During the Presidency, however, Poland managed to draw first of all the European Union's attention to how crucial the issue of safety is – and that, after all, was the precedence of the government.