Poland to reinforce transatlantic relations during next Council of EU presidency

Poland wants to focus on strengthening the EU’s ties with the US during its next presidency in the Council of the EU in 2025, announced President Andrzej Duda on Monday.

As Poland celebrates its 19th anniversary since joining the bloc, Duda took this opportunity to discuss the benefits of the country’s membership and the experience Poland has gained as a member state. He also reiterated that the country will chair the works of the Council of the EU in the first six months of 2025.

“One of our top priorities for the European Union during our presidency will be reinforcing our collaboration with the United States, strengthening the transatlantic ties,” the president said during a joint conference with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the Presidential Palace’s gardens in Warsaw on Monday.

“More United States in Europe, more European Union in the US,” he summarised, adding that the objective will be to develop EU’s cooperation with Washington first and foremost in security and economy.

Duda said that cooperation with the US is profound for the EU, including building a joint security system. Among the examples of successful collaboration between the bloc and the US, he mentioned the joint efforts in supporting Ukraine, including the presence of US troops in Poland and strengthening NATO’s Eastern flank.

Duda also discussed further enlargement of the bloc for its upcoming presidency, including future EU membership for Ukraine and Moldova, which he called “a historical requirement.”

Poland favours the EU’s open door policy, therefore, it is going to focus on the Western Balkan countries’ EU accession processes, he said, insisting that those countries wait for more than ten years to join the Union.

“The Prime Minister (Morawiecki) and I know what it means to wait long, to desire to become a part of the free West, the part of which in a political sense we are today,” the Polish president said.

Poland joined the EU on 1 May 2004, together with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovakia, based on the accession protocols signed in 2003 in Athens.

During its EU membership, Poland has so far only once held the Council of the EU presidency, which was in the second half of 2011. Among the priorities of that presidency were completing membership talks with Croatia and the association agreement with Ukraine.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)