Regions and cities stand ready to work with the Polish EU presidency to make the green transition a 'win-win for everyone'

Energy security, competitiveness, climate adaptation and tackling climate disinformation among the top priorities as Poland takes over the EU presidency. 

Poland will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU for the first six months of 2025. Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol, Acting Permanent Representative of Poland to the European Union, and Krzysztof Bolesta, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Climate and Environment, addressed the members of the CoR's ENVE Commission on 10 December to highlight the presidency's commitment to advance the green transition together with cities and regions in a way that maintains security, jobs and Europe's competitiveness in the current instable geopolitical situation.  

The presentation of the priorities at the CoR took place just hours before they were officially announced by the government in Warsaw. Speaking to ENVE members, Poland's Ambassador to the EU Agnieszka Bartol said: "In the field of energy, we will focus on three priorities – energy security, Ukraine and competitiveness. Our goal is to make sure people can actually benefit from energy transition. This is why we will focus on incentives instead of obligations. Recent natural disasters, like the floods we’ve seen in Poland and Central Europe, highlight how urgent it is to have measures in place to tackle the growing impact of extreme weather. Upcoming Polish presidency is ready to work on these issues. We are also counting on you to support us in working towards these priorities. Your experience from local and regional levels will be a great contribution to our presidency." 

Secretary of State Krzysztof Bolesta explained that "we need to expand the common understanding of energy security to include cybersecurity and security of critical infrastructure, in addition to securing the availability and accessibility of affordable energy for all. Secondly, we will focus on competitiveness. We want to tackle high energy costs, impact of existing regulations and the import dependency of green tech. We also want to start a discussion of the Clean Industrial Deal, and we are looking forward to working with the Commission on the EU Climate Adaptation Plan. Another priority is fighting climate misinformation, and we will work with European institutions on concrete, coordinated, consistent, and long-lasting actions to combat this scourge, which is harming all our societies and undermining collective efforts. Finally, we will prioritise the Clean Industrial Deal as a significant measure for climate action, as well as for energy security”, Mr Bolesta concluded. 

ENVE Commission chair Rafał TRZASKOWSKI (PL/EPP), Mayor of Warsaw and candidate of the Civic Coalition in the Polish presidential election in 2025, said: "In the next years we will have to face the continuous challenge of keeping together green priorities with the socio-economic urgencies: in our Green Deal 2.0 report we outlined the way to go. We know it is going to be a narrow and steep path, in which the Polish presidency can count with the support of cities and regions. Our work will be more and more complex and crucial in showing that we must not choose between liveable, clean and green cities and a prosperous, innovative and competitive economy. We must find this balance, putting the needs and expectations of our citizens, business owners and farmers at the centre of the green transition. It will be a win-win situation for all." 

It was also decided at Tuesday's meeting that ENVE Commission members would gather next year for an external meeting and conference in the Polish city of Łódź, following a proposal from Mayor Hanna ZDANOWSKA (PL/EPP).  

Looking back at the CoR's recent participation to the biodiversity COP16 and the climate COP29, members underlined the excellent cooperation with key international networks of subnational governments. A signature ceremony took place to mark the renewal of the action plans with ICLEI, Regions4, Under2 Coalition and Climate-KIC. ENVE commission members also announced its support the Berlin Urban Nature Pact, which was launched at the COP16 to mobilise cities towards the goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. 

Members also had a first discussion on the upcoming opinion on More than funding: local and regional authorities mobilising public and private resources for an effective follow-up on the Clean Transition Dialogues on the ground with rapporteur Åsa ÅGREN WIKSTRÖM (SE/EPP), Member of Västerbotten Regional Council.

Rapporteurs were appointed for three new opinions: 

• State of the energy union: getting prepared for a smooth implementation of energy transition in line with Fit for 55 targets, rapporteur: Joško KLISOVIĆ (HR/PES), President of Zagreb City Assembly 
• Climate action implementation in view of the EU contribution to UNFCCC COP30, rapporteur Nadia PELLEFIGUE (FR/PES), Vice-president of the Occitania region 
• Designing nature credits: a framework to promote biodiversity and ecosystem services, rapporteur: Rastislav TRNKA (SK/EPP), president of Košice Self-governing Region 

The meeting was the last of the ENVE Commission's current mandate. The next CoR term of office will begin in February. 

Contact: 

Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 473536887
lauri.ouvinen@cor.europa.eu