Friday’s meeting of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and members of his cabinet with the EU College of Commissioners was due to discuss in detail the planned workload of the Polish Presidency.
Holding a joint meeting of commissioners and ministers at the start of the Presidency has become an EU tradition. In Poland’s case, this will be the second meeting of that kind. Already in June 2010, in preparation for Poland’s chairmanship of the EU Council, members of the Council of Ministers met EU Commissioners in Brussels.
The European Commission delegation arrived at 10 am. During a one-on-one meeting between Prime Minister Tusk and EC President José Manuel Barroso and at a plenary meeting (ministers and commissioners under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Tusk and President Barroso), the main priorities of Poland’s Presidency were discussed: sources of the EU’s economic growth, reform of economic management, European Neighbourhood Policy, climatic issues and the new, long-term European Union budget.
For Friday there were also envisaged separate meetings of individual ministers and commissioners in thematically divided groups. During those meetings, representatives of the government and CE, to the extent of their competence, concentrated on detailed points of the Polish Presidency’s activities. These included directives pertaining to the online market, universal EU patents, Single Market Act, creation of the European Endowment for Democracy, new instructions regarding cohesion policy and a Common Agricultural Policy legislative package.
The joint meeting of the Council of ministers and the College of Commissioners was followed by lunch at the Royal Castle.
Źródło: PL2011.eu July 8th 2011