Poland takes over EU Council presidency: what to expect?
Poland has taken over the EU Council presidency under the motto "Security, Europe!". For the next six months Warsaw will lead the Council meetings at which the governments of the EU member states prepare and make decisions together. Europe's press discusses the new presidency and compares it with the Hungarian one, which was highly contentious.
Tusk's Europe vs Orbán's
The handover from Budapest to Warsaw has a special symbolism, observes Piotr Buras of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank in an article for Polityka:
“Here in Central Europe, two visions are clashing in real terms: the Europe of Tusk and the Europe of Orbán. It is these two leaders who best symbolise the competing values, interests and approaches at the heart of the conflict over the soul of Europe. And although 1 January 2025 marks Viktor Orbán's handover of the EU Council presidency to Donald Tusk, this dispute over the bloc's course is only just beginning.”
Trump-understanders at the helm
Commenting in Lrytas, Gintautas Ramza, an analyst at the Military Academy of Lithuania, emphasises Poland's special role in relations with the US:
“Poland is one of the few countries in Europe that already saw the direction in which US foreign policy was heading during US President Donald Trump's first term in office. Today it is clear that the US's new strategic course follows Ronald Reagan's classic approach of 'peace through (military) strength'. In practical terms, this means that rapid rearmament is required and only those states that implement this will be respected by the US.”
Poland increasingly a leading power
Hospodářské noviny is optimistic about the Polish EU Council presidency:
“Tusk is an experienced European campaigner. He was president of the European Council for five years and headed the largest political force in the EU, the European People's Party, for three. ... Poland is becoming a leading power in the European Union, particularly now that French President Emmanuel Macron's position has been weakened by internal political problems, and we can expect that after the early election in Germany coalition negotiations will keep that country busy at least until the summer.”
Trade relations also a key topic
Krytyka Polityczna also sees relations with Washington as a key challenge:
“In addition to the situation in Ukraine and the related security dilemmas, trade relations between the EU and the US could prove to be one of the main problems of the Council presidency. ... Good security ties between Poland and the US will not necessarily translate into a strong position for Warsaw when negotiating trade relations. But no matter how the relationship with Trump develops, the Polish EU Council presidency must focus on responding to the various issues that are driving a wedge between partners on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Budapest's presidency the most unproductive to date
Hungary's EU Council presidency was lacklustre to say the least, says hvg:
“Only nine legislative processes were brought to a conclusion during the Hungarian EU Council presidency. This is the number of concrete new laws on which an agreement was reached with the EU Parliament as co-legislator. ... It is fairer to compare this figure with Council presidencies that coincided with similar transition periods after European elections. According to the Parliament, the Finns completed 23 processes under such circumstances in 2019, while five years earlier in 2014 the Italian presidency completed 20. No presidency has ever been as unproductive as the Hungarian presidency.”
Important progress made
The pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet, by contrast, sees concrete results:
“The main achievement of the Hungarian EU Council presidency is that it managed to get the declaration on the New European Competitiveness Deal adopted in Budapest. ... Another important result is the tax agreement that the Hungarian Council presidency managed to secure, bringing years of debate in the EU to a conclusion. ... To sum up, in its six months in office the Hungarian EU Presidency has made great strides in economic areas that had been the subject of controversy for years.”