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H.E. Cezary Król, Ambassador of Poland

Poland took over the European Union presidency on 1 July. What does this mean for Poland?
It meant a lot of preparation over the last two years because we want to do it professionally and in a manner that would prove once again that we are mature and full members of the European Union. We want to be perceived as competitive, competent and a reliable member of the European Union. Sometimes there is still the impression that new member states remain the “younger brothers” of the whole community. We are going to organise ministerial meetings in such a way as to promote Poland’s various regions and five cities have been chosen as venues for those meetings: Krakow, Sopot, Wroclaw, Poznan and Warsaw.

What are the objectives of the Polish presidency?
Taking into consideration what is happening in the EU at the moment, the main objective is to rebuild confidence and trust amongst member states. We also want to strengthen the spirit of solidarity which is quite important for us in Poland due to our history but especially in a situation where we all felt, quite painfully, the economic crisis.

What are the priorities of the Polish presidency?
We would like the EU’s economy to continue to grow; to be secure and open. The growing bit is especially important because this relates to the crisis and economic problems. We would like to concentrate on the internal market, to make it function better. We would also like to concentrate on things that are important to ordinary citizens such as pushing forward the concept of e-commerce – until now, up to 60 percent of economic activity in this area in the EU has been blocked by regulations. So we would like to make it more open for people to trade easier. We would also like to focus on roaming services. It has been improved significantly but we would like to make it even better.
Another huge part of the economic aspect is making Europe more competitive because the other centres around the world are growing pretty fast and definitely have less restriction than we have in the European Union. For example, we are also trying to push forward the idea of European patenting system, to make it much easier in order to make European companies more competitive.
We will also focus on the Eastern Partnership – it is important to have a balance between the southern and eastern neighbours, this does not impede on the unity of the Union but ensures there is the right balance between the member states. In addition, we want to focus on energy security and developing an external energy policy, as well as developing the common foreign and security policy.

The European Union has entered a phase of some pessimism since the 2005 rejection of the draft constitution in France and the Netherlands, and especially since the financial and economic crisis since 2008. So Poland is taking over the presidency at troubling times for EU and there are significant challenges ahead. How do you plan to overcome them?
Well, in a way we are in a comfortable position. Over 80 percent of public opinion in Poland supports our membership of the EU and this is probably the highest rate in Europe. But we have also been lucky to avoid the crisis so it is probably a good example how this can be done. It was obviously not an accident but a result of rather painful transformations and reforms that we have been doing for the last 20 years. We have know-how that we think should be taken into account in other European countries.
Even our farmers, who were most suspicious of EU membership, have come around and are now its supporters. We want to make visible the obvious advantages of the Union which are currently neglected, such as the EU funds that help, for example, small and medium sized enterprises that help drive the economic growth.
Poland will not only preside over ministerial meetings, but former Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek is the current president of the European Parliament, and the Pole Janusz Lewandowski is the current commissioner for financial programming and budget. What impact will these facts have in practice?
This is nothing but a coincidence, a good coincidence but a coincidence nevertheless. It is not about promoting your own national interests and we do not intend to push the interests of Poland alone. We are going to represent the interests of the EU as a whole.

Despite good economic performance, Poland is not yet among the new EU members that have succeeded in joining the eurozone. Considering the latest developments with the Euro, this actually might not be such a negative outcome?
We are obliged by the Treaty to join the Euro eventually, which we will. We were on course to join in 2014 or 2015 but due to the crisis this might happen a little bit later. We want to make sure that we are fully prepared to adopt the Euro, learn from the mistakes that happened in the past. We are being responsible and professional as we do not want to rush into anything.

What are your embassy’s priorities in Slovenia in the next six months?
We organised a big jazz concert in Križanke on 1 July to mark the beginning of our Presidency. The concert was held by Grzech Piotrowski and World Orchestra that consisted of musicians from all over the globe. Beside the concert, we plan to organise at least one cultural event a month to make sure that Poland remains visible in the eyes of Slovenians.

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