On 1 January 2025, Poland will take over the reins of the Council of the European Union, holding the Rotating Presidency for the second time since its accession to the European Union in 2004.
With the new Commission on its way to being fully operational, and approaching the end of a politically charged Hungarian Presidency, the Polish government will face a number of challenges in the first semester of next year. This underscores the importance of bridging the gap between policy-makers, academics, and citizens in Europe.
To discuss the aims and priorities of the incoming Polish Presidency, as well as the crucial policy areas that need attention in the EU, the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) and the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University organised “Securing Europe’s Future”, the Polish Pre-Presidency Conference (PPC).
On the occasion of the Polish Pre-Presidency Conference, TEPSA also presented recommendations to the incoming Presidency. These recommendations form part of a long history of interaction between TEPSA and the Council Presidencies, starting with the first Pre-Presidency Conference. The recommendations from members of the TEPSA network to the incoming Polish Presidency are published here. You can watch the relevant session of the PPC below.
The Polish PPC took place on 21-22 November in Warsaw, and hosted policy-makers to meet with key stakeholders and the wider public. The conference featured high level discussions between research from the TEPSA Network, members of the public including students and civil society representatives, and key figures in the Polish government.
The first semester of 2025 will be a critical moment for Europe. With Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine about to enter its fourth year, enlargement back on the European agenda, and continued hybrid threats to the EU and its neighbours, the Polish PPC was an opportunity to stand back and assess how the current global landscape affects Europe, and what can be done to secure Europe’s future.
Our conference therefore focused on a number of interrelated thematic areas, including energy security, enlargement, Europe’s defence investment, competition policy, and, in the context of a panel supported by the Horizon Europe ActEU project, the renewal of representative democracy.
Catch up on other panels from the Polish PPC
The ActEU project organised the panel “EU Democracy Renewal: Addressing the Pressure on Representative Democracy in Europe”, moderated by Petr Kratochvíl (Institute of International Relations), and featuring interventions from Daniela Braun (Saarland University & ActEU Scientific Lead), Krzysztof Izdebski (Batory Foundation), Marzenna Guz-Vetter (Team Europe Direct & former Director of the European Commission Representation in Poland), and Mikołaj Cześnik (SWPS University).
The panel “Strong and Secure Europe in Turbulent Times” was moderated by Magdalena Góra (Jagiellonian University), and featured the expert insights of Gunilla Herolf (Swedish Institute of International Affairs), Sarah Poppelkvist (Danish Institute for International Studies), and Frank Schimmelfennig (ETH Zürich).
The panel “Financing the Defence Industry in Europe” was moderated by Magdalena Jakubowska (Res Publica Foundation), and featured expert insights from Luigi Scazzieri (Center for European Reform), Paweł Karbownik (Polish Ministry of Finance), Jarosław Jarząbek (Univeristy of Wrocław), and Cordelia Buchanan Ponczek (Finnish Institute of International Affairs).
The panel “Who Should be the Real Time-Keeper in EU Enlargement?” was moderated by Jan Farfał (University of Oxford & Visegrad Insight), and featured the expert insights of Funda Tekin (Institute for European Politics, IEP), Besnik Bislimi (First Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo), Spasimir Domaradzki (University of Warsaw & Institute of Central Europe), and Tomasz Wiśniewski (Head of EU Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Department of External Affairs of the EU, Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
This Pre-Presidency Conference was co-organised by TEPSA and the Institute of European Studies, Jagiellonian University, together with the Future Democracy Lab, Excellence Initiative of the Jagiellonian University, and Visegrad Insight. Additional support to specific parts of the agenda were provided by the Horizon Europe project “Activating European Citizens’ Trust in Times of Crises and Polarization (ActEU)”, as well as by the University of Warsaw and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
