An opening gala was held on the National Theater in Warsaw on the event of the inauguration of Poland’s six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union, which started on 1 January 2025.
Poland held a celebratory gala in Warsaw to mark the beginning of its second presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The nation has the duty of main the work of the Council and representing all member states in negotiations with the opposite EU establishments. The advert rotates between the 27 EU member states each six months, with Hungary concluding its personal controversial mandate in December.
During the gala, Polish and European leaders witnessed the efficiency of composer Radzimir Dębski, who wrote a very new piece for the event and carried out a number of works along with the orchestra and choir of the National Theatre.
Titled Ukła (“Bow” in English), the piece was impressed by Polish classical music, which incorporates the likes of Karol Szymanowski, Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Wojciech Kilar and Grażyna Bacewiczówna.
Among the primary to take the stage in Warsaw was Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
“Everyone in Europe and everybody right here on this lovely room is aware of precisely what we’ve undertaken,” Tusk mentioned in his opening speech, “But I wish to say that the Polish presidency is there to make use of our nationwide knowledge, our nationwide expertise.”
“If Europe is powerless, it won’t survive. Let us do the whole lot in order that Europe and Poland wouldn’t have to pay the very best worth for freedom, for power, for sovereignty. Let us do the whole lot to make Europe once more sturdy,” Tusk famous.
Poland, as soon as often called a thorn within the facet of European politics, now takes middle stage. In his speech, Prime Minister Tusk underlined the shut hyperlink between European and Polish values, calling Poland “essentially the most pro-European nation on the continent”.
Absent from the inaugural celebration was European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whose workplace introduced she had fallen in poor health with pneumonia earlier than the occasion. Polish President Andrzej Duda was additionally not current.
The Hungarian ambassador to Poland had beforehand been withdrawn from the invitation to the ceremony following a diplomatic squabble between the 2 international locations the place fugitive Polish MP Marcin Romanowski was granted asylum in Hungary.
Marked by the continuing conflict in Ukraine and the disaster on the Polish-Belarusian border, the Polish presidency will deal with European safety and protection.
“Poland is taking the lead within the EU at the very best time,” European Council President Antonio Costa mentioned on the occasion. “The vitality of Polish democracy and its residents’ sense of nationwide id strengthens your complete European Union,” he mentioned, additionally underlining the significance of continued assist for Ukraine.
