Poland in the EU

The recently published report by M. Draghi, former head of the European Central Bank, addresses the future of the European economy. It also contains a number of observations and recommendations that could improve its global competitiveness. Furthermore, it points out the main causes of Europe's weaknesses, such as high energy prices, an unstable and competitive international environment and the so-called innovation gap, among others.

The report is a very important contribution to the discussion on the EU's long-term competitiveness, which we want to continue and deepen during our presidency. In principle, we agree with the diagnosis made in the report. However, we want to draw attention to highlighting and giving the right format to the approach to EU cohesion policy

- said Deputy Minister Ignacy Niemczycki.

Removing barriers, strong cohesion policy

Poland takes a positive view of some of the report's recommendations on linking industrial policy to the common trade policy, ensuring access to critical raw materials needed for the green transition, or a strong emphasis on the challenges facing energy-intensive industries. According to the Polish government, the basic conditions for building competitiveness and innovation are better implementation of the single market, as well as simplification of EU regulations and reduction of administrative burdens limiting the potential of European companies, including SMEs.

In our view, however, the Draghi report insufficiently addresses the issue of the Union's territorial cohesion. The dynamics of Poland's convergence is evidence of the effective performance of cohesion policy, which should continue to be largely focused on being a catalyst for structural changes aimed at increasing productive and innovative capacity

- added the deputy minister of the Ministry of Regional Development.

Bilateral meetings

In addition to the plenary session of the COMPET Council, Deputy Minister Niemczycki also took part in a series of bilateral meetings with representatives of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Slovakia, Sweden and Italy, among others. The talks primarily focused on the priorities of the Polish EU Presidency.