It’s all or nothing, Polish presidency wants Draghi’s report in its entirety

Brussels – All or nothing, take it or leave it. The Draghi report on EU competitiveness, the text that is supposed to guide EU action in this new legislature, cannot be negotiated, and the Polish presidency of the EU Council has no intention of giving in. There will be no unbundling of the document, clarifies Agnieszka Bartol, Poland’s permanent representative to the European Union, presenting the presidency program for the Polish semester. “We will try to work on the report’s recommendations in their entirety, as requested by many member states, instead of picking out individual aspects.”

From January 1 and for the first six months of 2025, one of the big tasks of Donald Tusk’s government team will be not to yield to attempts and temptations to take only what they like best from the detailed work done by the former prime minister and former president of the European Central Bank. Indeed, the Polish diplomat admits, around the table, “we share analyses on one of the main impediments to investment, namely the cost of energy and the need for energy security,” just as among EU member states, “we are absolutely convinced of the need for regulatory simplification.” But, she reiterates the need to march compactly on the Draghi report.

Not least because Poland’s watchword for its six-month presidency is security, articulated in seven aspects, including economics, which involves strengthening the single market and competitiveness. The Draghi report remains a guiding element, and the choice to try to support it in its entirety has its logic. Of course, it is also a risk: If the confrontation is reduced to an “all or nothing”, it might break the whole bank. The real challenge appears to be this one, not least because the work in other dossiers does not seem particularly pressing.

Poland’s six-month presidency will not be under the banner of institutional reforms. “We will not work to change the treaties, and we don’t see appetite for that around the table either,” Bartol admits. As for the EU’s new multi-year budget, the MFF 2028–2034, the Commission will not put the draft plans in the first six months of the year on the table.