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The budget of the Polish presidency will amount to PLN 412.5 million

by AI | 27.Oct 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The six-month presidency term will be inaugurated with a concert in Warsaw on January 3. Meetings of ministers within the framework of the EU Council will also be organized in the capital.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Photo: Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP

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The budget for the Polish presidency will amount to PLN 412.5 million, the same as in 2011 – announced Deputy Minister for European Affairs Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka on Thursday. In connection with the presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2025, 40,000 guests are expected to come to Poland to participate in over 500 events.

Among these events, there are planned political and official meetings, as well as concerts and cultural events.

As Sobkowiak-Czarnecka informed, the presidency budget set by the government amounts to PLN 412.5 million and is equal to that of 2011, when Poland first held the EU Council presidency. The Deputy Minister emphasized that the budget has not changed, which means that – taking into account inflation and rising costs – the second Polish presidency will actually cost less.

The six-month presidency period will be inaugurated with a concert in Warsaw on January 3. Ministerial meetings within the EU Council will also be held in the capital – 23 informal sessions are to take place at the Warsaw Citadel. The second venue for official meetings will be the National Stadium.

As Sobkowiak-Czarnecka told Polish correspondents, the projects from the Polish presidency program will not be limited to Warsaw alone but will be organized across the entire country. Expert conferences and cultural projects are also planned in Krakow, Katowice, Rzeszow, Bydgoszcz, and Poznan, among others.

During the Polish presidency of the EU Council, the European Commission will return to the tradition of organizing off-site meetings and will gather in the Tri-City at the beginning of January 2025. The government of the host country is customarily invited to participate in the College of Commissioners.

The EC canceled a meeting in Hungary in July due to the visits of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to Moscow and Beijing, which could suggest that the Hungarian government head represents the position of the entire Community. The institution led by Ursula von der Leyen also decided to send a representative at the official level instead of a commissioner competent in the given area to informal EU Council meetings in Budapest. (24/10/2024)

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