Poland wants to strengthen ties with the US – EURACTIV.de

Poland wants to focus on strengthening EU-US relations during its next EU presidency in 2025, President Andrzej Duda announced on Monday.

While celebrating the 19th anniversary of Poland joining the Union, Duda took the opportunity to talk about the benefits of the country’s EU membership and Poland’s experience as a member state. He also reiterated that the country will assume the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in six months from 2025.

During a joint conference with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in the garden of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, the President said, “One of our top priorities for the European Union during our presidency is to strengthen our cooperation with the United States, to strengthen our transatlantic relations.” Monday.

“More America in Europe, more EU in America,” he summed up, adding that the aim would be to increase EU cooperation with Washington, especially in the fields of defense and economy.

Duda said cooperation with the United States is crucial for the EU, including the creation of a common security system. He cited joint efforts in support of Ukraine, including the presence of American troops in Poland and the strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank, as examples of successful cooperation between the Union and the United States.

Duda also spoke about EU enlargement, including the future EU membership of Ukraine and Moldova, which he described as “a historic necessity”.

He said that Poland supports the EU’s open door policy and will therefore focus on the EU accession process of the Western Balkan countries, which have been waiting for more than ten years to join the Union.

“I know what it means to wait a long time, to become part of the free West, which we belong to today in the political sense,” the Polish president said.

Poland joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, and Slovakia, based on the Accession Protocol signed in Athens in 2003.

During its EU membership, Poland held the EU Council presidency only once, in the second half of 2011. This presidency’s priorities include accession negotiations with Croatia and an association agreement with Ukraine.