Report: The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU – Progress or Missed Potential?
by Peter Wieland and Levin Kettler, GIZ/EUKI
With the beginning of 2025, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU officially commenced. The presidency arrives at a critical juncture, as Europe navigates its green transition amidst geopolitical and economic challenges. The recent web seminar by the EUKI Academy and CAN Europe, on 16 January 2024, explored the opportunities and challenges for civil society to shape energy and climate policies during Poland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Focus of the Polish Presidency: Driving Decarbonisation and Energy Security
The Polish Presidency comes at a crucial point in time for EU policy. With the inauguration of the new EU Commission, the next months are characterised by landmark decisions and major upcoming EU programmes. Representative of the European Commission in Warsaw Izabela Zygmunt outlined the EU’s legislative agenda, centred around the introduction of the EU Clean Industrial Deal, which focuses on industrial decarbonisation and circular economy. Other upcoming initiatives include the European Climate Adaptation Plan and the 2040 Emissions Reduction Targets.
While other European countries are dealing with internal political struggles, the Polish government has the chance to act as a leader and advocate for interests of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and a rapid green transition. The speakers listed several key priorities of the Presidency’s agenda published under the slogan “Security, Europe!”. It aims at maintaining competitiveness of the European industry on the path to energy security and climate neutrality. Further initiatives will focus on combating foreign interference and disinformation. The latter includes dealing with climate disinformation and promoting the public acceptance of climate policies as a crucial step for transition.
Sylwia Andrałojć-Bodych, Senior Advisor for EU Climate Policy and Polish-German Cooperation at Germanwatch, pointed out significant gaps in the Presidency’s agenda on climate and energy policy. She cited the lack of emphasis on the Social Climate Fund or the 2040 EU climate target. Andrałojć-Bodych recommended reading between the agenda’s lines and predicted upcoming debates on CO2 emission standards and a possible delay of the Emissions Trading System 2 (ETS 2). To ensure that no one is left behind in the transition she called for balancing competitiveness with climate ambition. Instruments such as the Just Transition Fund (JTF), supporting regions heavily reliant on fossil fuel industries, will be particularly important.

“Poland has the opportunity to emerge as a CEE leader, showing that climate action with a social dimension and competitiveness can go hand in hand.”
Dana Marekova – Coordinator of the Slovak Climate Coalition
Collaborative Efforts: Civil Society’s Role in Climate Advocacy
CSOs are essential in shaping the political focus of Poland’s presidential term through advocacy. The most important precondition for civil society to successfully contribute to the climate and energy priorities is being seen as trusted partners. According to Kasia Ugryn, Senior Policy and Network Coordinator for CEE at CAN Europe, a strong involvement of civil society in the legislative process during the Polish Presidency could be a turning point for collaboration between civil society and policymakers in CEE. Previous efforts have been successful. An informal group of CSOs turned climate disinformation into a top priority for the Presidency.
With the Presidency announcing several key concepts, Dana Marekova, Coordinator of the Slovak Climate Coalition, advocated for civil society’s role in publicly decoding political buzzwords such as energy security or competitiveness to reveal the underlying aims of the agenda. Critics fear an overreliance on underdeveloped technologies, such as green hydrogen or nuclear energy, while energy efficiency and renewable energy installations may go overlooked. The focus on competitiveness risks the abolishment of central climate policies when it should be pursued in harmony with social aspects of the EU’s green transition.
The speakers gave several key recommendations for the Presidency from a civil society perspective. Krzysztof Mrozek, Director of European Funds for Climate Programme, Polish Green Network, emphasised the acceleration of renewable energy adoption under REPowerEU to reduce the dependence on Russian fossil fuels and increase infrastructural security. He underlined the importance to drive climate action in a just way, particularly by integrating social resilience into EU strategies. One major opportunity for civil society to have significant influence are the negotiations on the next EU budget, where a stronger focus may be placed on the social environmental dimension.
Moving forward together
The Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU holds significant potential to steer Europe towards a sustainable and equitable future. Civil society networks in the CEE region, like CAN Europe and the broader EUKI Community, will continue to advocate for consistent pursuit of a just climate neutrality by 2050.