This week’s key events presented by Euronews’ Polish affairs correspondent Dominika Cosic.
Key diary dates
- Wednesday 22 January: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to present priorities of the Polish EU presidency to the European Parliament plenary in Strasbourg.
- Thursday 23 January: European Parliament to debate use of EU funds for buidling border security apparatus.
- Friday 24 January: European Commission to meet with German digital regulator, and large digital platforms, including X, to prevent interference during the German election.
In spotlight
Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk will address priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council during the plenary session of the European Parliament on Wednesday.
The presidency slogan “Security, Europe” refers to several sectors. Minister of European affairs, Adam Szlapka told to Euronews last week that on energy security reducing dependence on Russian fossil fuels tops priorities.
Food, health, financial, cyber and military security are also touchstones however, and Poland’s presidency will seek to strengthen cooperation between the EU and NATO.
But Tusk will also underline the necessity of boosting border security. Since 2021 Poland’s eastern border with Belorussia – also an external EU and NATO border – remains subject to migrant waves encouraged by Belarussia and Russia.
The previous Polish government decided to build fences on the border and sought finance from the European budget for this – receiving minimal help.Tusk’s government is supporting a similar initiative called the Eastern Shield and is also seeking financial support from the EU for this.
This issue divides member states, and these differences are likely to be on display on Thursday when the European Parliament plenary is set to debate whether EU funding can be used to build physical borders like fences and wall on external borders of the EU. Other frontline countries like Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Finland are also building fences and would like to receive funding, and Tusk is likely to give the idea support – whether explicitly or otherwise – in his address to MEPs the day before.
Policy newsmakers
Greenland and EU
Greenland wants a stronger EU presence over the territory’s critical raw materials needed to build new clean energy technologies such as solar panels and batteries, Aaja Chemnitz, a member of the Danish parliament for Greenland’s left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) separatist party, told Euronews. Chemnitz was responding to US president-elect Donald Trump’s refusal to rule out an attack on Greenland, a Danish self-governing island and NATO ally. Greenland’s Prime Minister Múte Egede said last week that his government was ready to work more closely with the US on defence and mining, but on its own terms.
