On the eve of the start of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which will begin on 1 January 2025, Agnieszka Bartol, Poland’s Permanent Representative to the EU, and Krzysztof Bolesta, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Climate and Environment, told the Committee of the Regions’ Commission for the Environment (ENVE) of the presidency’s commitment to working with the regions to ensure the green transition and the security and competitiveness of the EU.
The presentation of the new presidency’s priorities to the Committee of the Regions took place a few hours before the official announcement in Warsaw on Tuesday 10 December. Poland plans to cover various areas of European policy through the lens of “security”.
As Ms Bartol explained to the members of the ENVE Commission, security will indeed be a major focus of attention in the energy sector, in addition to helping Ukraine to deal with attacks on its energy system and the challenge of competitiveness (see EUROPE 13541/6).
She also stressed the need to ensure that citizens really benefit from the energy transition. “Recent natural disasters, like the floods we’ve seen in Poland and Central Europe, highlight how urgent it is to have measures in place to tackle the growing impact of extreme weather”, she said. She also added that the experience of local and regional authorities would be invaluable to the presidency.
According to Mr Bolesta, it is important to “broaden the common understanding of energy security” to include cyber security and the security of critical infrastructures. He also reiterated the presidency’s desire to tackle high energy costs and dependence on imports of green technologies.
He also looked forward to working with the European Commission on the EU’s climate adaptation plan, and to starting discussions on the new “Clean Industrial Deal”, expected at the end of February. Finally, he mentioned another priority: the fight against climate disinformation.
The chairman of the ENVE Commission, Rafał Trzaskowski (EPP, Polish), mayor of Warsaw and Civic Coalition candidate in the 2025 Polish presidential election, called for work on a transition that achieves a balance between “liveable, clean and green” cities and a prosperous, innovative and competitive economy. “It will be a win-win situation for all”, he said. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)