On the day preceding the informal session of the Competitiveness Council and Trade Council to be held in Warsaw, Minister Krzysztof Paszyk held a meeting with the European policy-makers and EU representatives:

• Lithuanian Minister of Economy Lukas Savickas
• Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Reinette Klever
• EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maros Sefcovic
• Secretary-General of the OECD Mathias Cormann
• EC Executive Vice-President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Stéphane Sejourne

In the course of the meetings, the Minister of Economic Development and Technology presented among others the priorities of the Polish Presidency:

MEDT is responsible for the operations of the two bodies of the Council of the EU i.e. the EU Competitiveness Council – in the area of internal market, industry and space, as well as the Foreign Affairs Council – in the area of trade.  During our Presidency, we intend to focus on three aspects of competitiveness:  repairing single market foundations, including in particular single market for services, improving regulatory environment for entrepreneurs and the future of the EU industrial policy

- noted the Head of MEDT.

The discussions covered also transatlantic relations, defence and EU-Mercosur and EU-Mexico trade agreements.

Poland hopes to take measures for the European agriculture in the EU to protect its vulnerable sectors against damages caused by increasing import from the Mercosur states. In addition, we expect that as soon as the negotiations are concluded the agreement with Mercosur states is to be submitted for approval by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, pursuant to Article 218 of TFEU. We are concerned about the potential separation of a trade-related part from the agreement and believe that this would be in contrary to the negotiation mandate granted to the EC by the Council

– stressed Minister Krzysztof Paszyk.