On Wednesday 22 January, the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, urged Europeans not to feel an inferiority complex vis-à-vis the world’s great powers and to believe in their own strengths, because, in his words, “Europe has built its greatness by jumping into the unknown, without fear”.
Unveiling the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the Chamber of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Tusk spoke of the various dimensions of security that his government intends to promote in the first half of 2025.
On defence, the Polish Prime Minister stressed the need to take seriously the target of 5% military spending in national budgets, as is already the case in Poland (see EUROPE 13558/1) and as President Trump is demanding of the Allies. He called for “a common approach to financing pan-European defence projects”, such as the creation of an “Eastern Shield” to protect land borders, a project supported by his country, Finland and Lithuania.
On economic security, the former President of the European Council called on MEPs to review their legislative approach, advocating a phase of “deregulation” at European level to boost economic competitiveness. In his view, European regulations have pushed energy prices to “unacceptable levels”. In particular, Mr Tusk warned against the ill-considered application of the ‘ETS 2’ greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme to the heating and road transport sectors (see EUROPE 13087/4). He also advocated total EU independence from Russian hydrocarbons.
On food safety, Mr Tusk called for a return to “common sense” to relieve farmers of excessive bureaucracy, while guaranteeing the EU’s food independence.
As for public health, the Prime Minister spoke of the mental health of young people exposed to social networks. Last July, the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the launch of a specific European investigation (see EUROPE 13456/1). Questioned by Agence Europe on Wednesday, the European Commission confirmed this intention to provide additional information.
Satisfaction from pro-European MEPs. The pro-European political groups in Parliament welcomed the fact that Poland had taken over the reins of the EU Council, disregarding the previous Hungarian Presidency.
“With the Polish Presidency, you can feel the change”, praised the President of the Christian Democrat EPP Group, Germany’s Manfred Weber. By reaffirming the Rule of law in your country, you have released €137 billion from Poland’s post-Covid-19 recovery plan, he noted.
Spanish Socialist Iratxe García Pérez endorsed the Polish Presidency’s focus on security. However, safety also means the purchasing power of pensioners, the right of women to have abortions and the freedom of homosexual couples to walk the streets without risk, she retorted.
Like her counterpart in the S&D Group, the President of the centre-right Renew Europe Group, France’s Valérie Hayer, considered the European Green Deal to be “the key to our energy independence”. She added: “‘Yes’ to simplification to make us more competitive, but ‘no’ to calling climate objectives into question”. She was supported by the Co-Presidents of the Greens/EFA Group, Germany’s Terry Reintke, who believes that “environmental safety” must continue to be one of the EU’s political priorities.
And Mrs Hayer regrets that Poland, which is rightly fighting against the instrumentalisation of migration at its border with Belarus (see EUROPE 13561/5), voted against the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
On behalf of The Left Group, Frenchwoman Manon Aubry evoked the memory of Dorota Lalik, a 33-year-old Polish woman who died of septicaemia five months into her pregnancy because she was unable to have an abortion. “Too many women have lost their lives because of Poland’s ban on abortion!”, she exclaimed.
The Polish government has failed to decriminalise abortion in Poland, despite Mr Tusk’s election promises.
On the far right of the political spectrum, the three MEPs who spoke attacked Mr Tusk head-on, accusing him of all the wrongs.
“You are leading Europe towards a loss of competitiveness and security!”, scoffed Anna Bryłka (PfE). Fighting climate disinformation, “that’s freedom of expression”, she added. For Patryk Jaki (ECR), the Polish Prime Minister is “a fraud”: he buys Russian gas, promotes the acceptance of migrants and foolishly applies the ‘European Green Deal’. Finally, Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik (ESN) accused Mr Tusk of having done nothing as President of the European Council to promote Poland’s interests.
See Mr Tusk’s speech: https://aeur.eu/f/f5k (Polish) and https://aeur.eu/f/f5o (English) (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)