Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (Successes and Failures)

Abstract

The article is aimed at trying to show both positive and negative premises,
i.e. favorable and unfavorable circumstances of the Polish Presidency and at
developing its balance. The main thesis is a statement that the Presidency
was an unprecedented event in the history of the Polish state and had a great
social, political, cultural, scholarly, economic and international importance,
and its results will continue to be experienced for a long time.
The Polish Presidency, like all the other EU Presidencies, evokes many
emotions and as far as its balance is concerned, experts, researchers and
politicians have already presented diverse opinions. It is too early for its
full objective balance but this does not mean that it cannot be analyzed and
examined today and that adequate conclusions cannot be drawn.
I am trying to show in the article that despite negative, unfavorable circumstances
of the Polish Presidency and a lack of a spectacular success, the
balance of the Polish Presidency is positive and Poland deserves appreciation
and high evaluation because we passed that difficult examination although
we had no experience but many problems. Moreover, I am trying to show
that our Presidency was peaceful, aimed at looking for communication and
compromises, that it was better than the Czech or Hungarian ones. I wish the
world media interest in the Polish Presidency had not been so relatively small
because as a result it remained in the shadow of such events as the crisis in
the Eurozone, the financial and economic drama in Greece, the Arab ‘Spring
of Nations’ or the parliamentary elections in Poland and Russia.