The Polish Presidency of the EU Council, which begins its term in January, intends to make its contribution to the work on European competitiveness, according to its programme for the next six months. It takes up the main themes set out by EU ministers and leaders in recent months: the Clean Industrial Deal, strengthening the Internal market, public and private investment and reducing regulatory burden. Poland is looking at a number of aspects which it feels are relevant and where it believes it can take the work forward.
This is the case for the reduction of barriers to the Internal market for services, a subject around which the Polish Presidency wishes to hold a debate within the ‘Competitiveness’ Council. It regrets the many barriers to the provision of services between Member States and would like to help reduce them. This will be done through the ‘Horizontal Strategy for the Single Market’, expected in June 2025, but also by promoting compliance with current rules - for example those on the proportionality principle - which must be applied in all Member States.
Alongside the work to strengthen the Internal market, the EU will have to develop an industrial policy and promote public and private investment, according to the Polish Presidency. On this last point, it stresses the need to pay particular attention to the different situations of Member States when revising the framework on State aid. Maintaining a level playing field across the EU is vital for Poland.
More broadly, Warsaw points to high energy prices and their effects, which need to be mitigated. The implementation of the CBAM will also be important in supporting European manufacturers.
Finally, Poland stresses the need to eliminate the risks of strategic dependency and the urgency of securing supplies of raw materials in particular.
See the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council: https://aeur.eu/f/ewk
See the draft agendas for Council meetings during the first semester of 2025: https://aeur.eu/f/exi (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)