The Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union
A Special Report by Aretera
January 16, 2025
(Photo: Official Website of the Polish EU Presidency)
On January 1, Poland assumed the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the f irst half of 2025. Succeeding Hungary, Poland will preside over the Council of the EU for the second time since joining the EU in 2004, and in doing so becomes the pivotal political stakeholder among European governments from January to July.
Within the EU’s institutional structure, the Council of the European Union is one of the two bodies of the bloc’s legislative branch. While the European Parliament represents EU citizens through directly elected lawmakers, the Council is composed of government ministers from each EU Member State, sitting on policy-specific councils of EU legislature.
Holding the Council Presidency, Poland will be tasked with preparing the political and legislative initiatives in the Council, organizing and chairing the meetings in its various policy-specific bodies and representing the Council in negotiations with other EU institutions, primarily the European Parliament and the European Commission (the EU’s top executive body with power to initiate legislation). Three successive EU Presidencies are known as Presidency Trios; the current trio consists of Poland, Denmark and Cyprus, until July 2026.
Supported by a 3,000-strong staff, Poland’s EU Presidency, which coincides with its upcoming presidential election, comes at an historically critical time for the European bloc, not least due to incoming US President Donald Trump’s stated intention to negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine in the first half of 2025. Accordingly, bolstering EU defence capabilities, resetting ties with the Trump White House and supporting war-torn Ukraine will be the top priorities for Poland on the surface. This is also why Poland chose “Security, Europe!” as its Presidency motto.
Expectations are high for Warsaw to deliver in a number of different policy areas, especially as its Council Presidency will coincide with the launch of the EU’s new institutional cycle, providing Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government with a unique opportunity to deliver. Security will not only be the motto of the Presidency but also its defining focus, which the Polish government will emphasize in relation to virtually all policy areas it will address during the next six months. In practical terms, this primarily refers to the EU’s external, internal, information, economic, agricultural, energy and health security.
If you would like to schedule a discussion of this paper, please contact:
Dominik Istrate, Aretera’s Research Director for Central & Eastern Europe at D.Istrate@AreteraPA.com
Dominik Istrate, Aretera’s Research Director for Central & Eastern Europe at D.Istrate@AreteraPA.com