‘We have so much discussion going on today in Europe, but also around Europe, about which way the EU should go, what the EU should be. We need to go back to basics, to where the EU was created by its founding fathers just after World War II. The EU was a promise of security, of peace, but also a promise of freedom, of liberty, of the future’, stressed Szymon Hołownia. ‘Today, we need to show twice as hard that the EU, not in competition with NATO but as its complement, is a project aimed at ensuring security to the people living in the EU’, he pointed out.

‘This is why we emphasize how important are the East Shield and the Baltic Defence Line, how important it is for us to build awareness that the spending  we are committing to defence in Europe today isn’t an extravagance but an investment’, he pointed out.

‘With the war in Ukraine, we need to reboot the EU with spending on our security, so that it never occurs to anyone to start another war in or around the EU, because it shall be an unshakeable fortress supported by NATO. We need to ensure the safety of our loved ones today. This is something that unites our nations, in a very strong way’, stated Speaker Hołownia.

Giving his perspective on the issues on the conference agenda, the Speaker of the Sejm assessed that there’s a need not only to improve communication within the EU, but also to implement deregulation at both the community and national level. ‘We need to simplify people’s perspective. The EU must again be a space of freedom, liberty. If we want the Union to become a project continued by our children, we need to be aware of these fundamental challenges and go back to our roots. The EU has to be associated with security – physical security and the values that underpin it, namely fraternity, social solidarity, mutual concern’, he pointed out.

‘These are the foundations of the EU. A community of values expressed in a concrete way, not just in words. Secondly, freedom. The Union must be associated with freedom and not enslavement or bureaucracy, with developing potential and not restricting it. Thirdly, the future. I’d like to be able to say that after what we do together, the future of our children will be securely embedded within the European community. I want to tell them with a clear heart that EU is the best place to live, develop and realize their dreams. If we win these three battles, we’ll win the war. We must constantly bear this in mind, both in national parliaments and in the EU institutions’, he stressed.

Monday’s meeting provided a space for the European policy makers to exchange experiences and assessments, as well as to discuss the direction in which the Community is heading. The agenda of the COSAC plenary meeting included discussion of the priorities of the Polish presidency. Poland’s Minister for European Union Affairs, Adam Szłapka took the floor during the first session to speak on this issue. ‘The Polish presidency took place in a particular period for Europe and the world. A time of new threats and challenges. The Russian aggression in Ukraine began its fourth year. We came under hybrid attacks, with illegal migration on the eastern border and acts of sabotage and diversion. Global competition is intensifying, the previous rules in world trade no longer apply. This is the time to demonstrate responsibility’, said Minister Szłapka.  ‘The EU was created to address major challenges. Polish Presidency, acting courageously and responsibly under the slogan ‘Security, Europe!’, brought the subject of security into the mainstream of EU work for the next few years’, he announced.

Minister Szłapka listed the rethinking of external security as among the important results of the implementation of the Presidency’s priorities.  ‘EU leaders pledged at the meeting of the European Council to shape a defence policy that will make Europe stronger and sovereign. Shortly afterwards, also inspired by the Polishpresidency, the European Commission presented a White Paper for European Defence and the Rearm Europe Plan, which aims to urgently address the military challenge from Russia by mobilising up to EUR 800 billion to strengthen defence. A package of low-cost defence loans was also approved, which represents our great success and breakthrough in the EU in the field of defence financing. In addition, greater flexibility in fiscal rules was proposed, so that new defence spending isn’t taken into account in the excessive deficit procedure. The Polish presidency supported these activities from the very beginning, considering them as an element that further supports public investment by states in this key area’, Adam Szłapka mentioned.

The second session included a debate on the new institutional opening, the programme of work of the new European Commission and the EP’s planned activities for the 2024–2029 term. In this part, the Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security and Inter-institutional Relations, Maroš Šefčovič, addressed the assembly with a message. ‘Our priorities for the next five years are to ensure that the Union delivers prosperity, increases competitiveness, protects its citizens and defends democracy. This year’s Committee work programme identifies flagship initiatives that will help kick-start these priorities. At the same time, our main objective is to simplify our procedures and rules and make them more effective. Among the eighteen legislative initiatives announced, eleven were given the simplification dimension’, he reported. ‘In July, the Commission will adopt its proposal for a multi-annual budget, which needs to be reformed and strengthened to meet today’s needs. National parliaments will play a key role in shaping this financial framework. We’ll also continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes’, he announced.

‘We meet at a moment when our values and our system suffer from many challenges. The Council adopted the Strategic Agenda 2024–2029. Its aims are first and foremost a free and democratic Europe. Europeans must be at the heart of our democracies’, said Esteban González Pons, Vice-President of the European Parliament. ‘We need to increase public resistance to disinformation campaigns. Education is key here. Those who are well educated in this area are less likely to be exposed to fake news and extremist messages. Our second objective is a safe and strong Europe. Member states and European institutions must cooperate. We need a Europe that is able to defend itself against aggression. Enlargement is a strategic and geopolitical necessity that will make the Union stronger. The third objective is a competitive Europe and a Europe of prosperity. We need to create quality jobs, achieve digital transformation, and strengthen competitiveness. European companies and entrepreneurs should be global market leaders’, he pointed out.

The COSAC meeting also addressed the efforts to strengthen the EU’s collective cyber resilience. Finance was also discussed, including the issue how to shape the EU’s multiannual financial framework to meet  citizens’ expectations and respond quickly and efficiently to crises. It also looked at enlargement policy as one of the key tools for stabilising and integrating the continent. ‘In these difficult times, we need a European budget that is able to meet both current and upcoming challenges, that provides security, competitiveness and cohesion for all the member states. We’ll be able to respond effectively to changes in the external environment if we speak with one voice in the budget negotiations. Poland is an excellent example of the use of European funds, which have contributed to a leap in development and to equal opportunities. Investment in cohesion enhances the competitiveness of the European economy as a whole. Poland’s main objective during the presidency was to ensure that the key role of the regions was reflected in the Commission’s proposal for the new budget. Regions should remain at the heart of cohesion policy because these are local communities that know best what to spend the money on’, said Minister for EU Affairs, Adam Szłapka during the third session.

According to the Under-secretary of State in the Ministry of Finance, Paweł Karbownik, the problem with the European budget is that it reflects to the needs of the 1990s. ‘This budget is not ready for the future. We use it to pay off past liabilities. The budget is shrinking, and in political terms this means that European integration is regressing.  States cannot, by themselves, cope with all the challenges. We need common solutions, common goods. It would be worthwhile for us to try to define  these common public interests that we want to finance with EU funds, e.g., a common defence shield, a common response to the climate crisis and migration’, he assessed.

‘We’ll soon adopt the priorities for the next multiannual funding framework. This instrument must be ambitious, flexible, simplified and transparent. If we want to defend our standards when we talk about the environment, the climate, and labour rights, we need to define these basic goods, basic values, and allocate an adequate budget for this’,said chairman of the EP’s Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Sven Simon. ‘Taxpayers want to be sure that their efforts, their money, will be used in the best possible way. This means that we must have a proper system of control, oversight, scrutiny, and verification of the spending of the EU budget’, he added.

 Monday’s meeting was co-chaired by the Chairwoman of the Sejm Committee for European Union Affairs, MP Agnieszka Pomaska, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee for European Union Affairs, Sen Tomasz Grodzki. ‘Europe is facing challenges that remind us how fragile stability can be. We witnessed a painful past, wars and divisions. We see the war going on in Ukraine. Europe knows the price of non-cooperation and insecurity. It is on this knowledge and painful experience that the great European project, the EU, is based. We have a chance to write a shared history. A history of peace and prosperity. The EU was created not only for economic reasons, but above all for the social need for peace and security. Today, we need to remind ourselves of this. Our strength lies in unity. No European country can cope alone with the global challenges of security, economic instability, migration, rampant disinformation and cyber attacks. We need joint action on all these issues’, said Chairwoman Pomaska during the meeting. She also stressed that Poland assumed the presidency of the EU Council at a moment of particular uncertainty and geopolitical tensions. ‘The EU faces numerous challenges, including the direct consequences of the ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine. Shared responsibility for Europe’s future also means defending the fundamental values underpinning the Union, namely democracy, freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights’, she stressed.

‘Our meeting takes place at the end of the Polish presidency of the EU Council. It’s a moment to summarize, to reflect, but above all to look to the future. We’re proud to have played a part in building unity, strengthening competitiveness and security, and strengthening relations between institutions and states, as well as protecting the values that bind us together’, said Chairman Grodzki. ‘Only together can we build a Europe that is resilient, just, happy and capable of action’, he stressed.

As part of the first day of the conference, the 43rd semi-annual COSAC report was also presented. In addition, a meeting of chairpersons of the delegation was held to agree to the wording of two documents: Notes and Conclusions of the 73rd COSAC meeting.