Our thoughts on the Polish Presidency programme

Last week, the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union presented its programme for the next 6 months. Here are our thoughts about the priorities it intends to focus on regarding development cooperation:

What we liked:

• Focus on building resilience of countries and societies to crises. For us at PLATFORMA, this means particularly crises in local democracy, notably in fragile states, as well as preparedness for climate-related challenges and disasters.
• Building strong institutions and ensuring Good Governance in partner countries. Supporting local and regional governments (LRGs) and their associations (LRGAs) is key to strengthening good governance at all levels.
• Funding tools. Support LRGs and recreate the LA budget line to improve the participation of LRGs in development projects and enhance their political role in EU Financing for External Action, the Global Gateway and Team Europe initiatives. This would support with the EUs ‘values-based’ offer and the objective of poverty reduction and sustainable development by enhancing structural change for LRGs in partner countries.
• Ongoing focus on the 2030 Agenda. With only 6 years left and just 17% of goals on track, we wonder: will the EU ramp up its efforts to support local governments in achieving the Global Goals?

What we missed:

• Global Gateway. As the new “investment Commission” takes shape, we hoped to see a mention of the roll-out of this initiative, and especially the improvement of muti-level governance and transparency of the value-based offer, beyond purely safeguarding our “energy security”.
• Team Europe Initiatives. The engagement of member states in joint EU external action is essential, including their implementing agencies (such as Poland Aid).
• Engagement towards the EU-CELAC Summit in 2025. While fostering ties with Latin America and the Caribbean is vital, we missed a clear roadmap for engaging LRGs and their associations in the region. Strengthening their collaboration with European peers like CEMR and PLATFORMA is crucial as we look toward this essential summit, to be held in the second half of 2025.

Since the logo of the Polish presidency of the Council is a reference to the iconic «Solidarność» typeface, let’s not forget solidarity, a key component of development cooperation!