Keres
International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025: 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
It is now 80 years since the liberation of Nazi Germany's concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz Birkenau, in Poland. A major commemoration event is taking place at the former camp on International Holocaust Remembrance Day; it will be attended by numerous Heads of State or Government, and other dignitaries, in a context of growing antisemitism across Europe.
Priority dossiers under the Polish EU Council Presidency
Poland assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January, and will hold the office until 30 June 2025. This is the second Polish Presidency after the country's first stint in 2011. Poland is the opening member of a new trio, along with Denmark and Cyprus. Following Poland, Denmark will take over the presidency on 1 July 2025.
Poland's climate action strategy
Poland does not have a national climate law or a strategy to become climate-neutral. However, it is bound by the European Climate Law and other EU legislation that obliges Member States to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in some sectors. Poland accounts for 10.7 % of the EU's net GHG emissions, and achieved a net emissions reduction of 9.3 % in the years 2005 to 2023 – significantly lower than the EU average of 30.5 % over the same period (Figure 1). Emissions under the EU emissions trading ...
Poland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play
In nominal terms, Poland is the third biggest beneficiary of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), after Italy and Spain. EU support for implementing Poland's amended national recovery and resilience plan (NRRP) – Krajowy Plan Odbudowy – amounts to €59.8 billion, and includes €25.3 billion in grants and €34.5 billion in loans. The amount is €24.5 billion (+69 %) higher than the one initially approved, and takes into account a 2022 update of the maximum financial contribution, additional loans ...
Plenary round-up – May II 2023
Among the key moments of the May II plenary session were debates on breaches of the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary and frozen EU funds, and on the threat to democracy and the rule of law in Poland, in particular through the creation of an investigative committee. Roberta Metsola, President of the European Ϸվ, made a statement on the 10-year anniversary of the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh. Another debate addressed the social and economic costs of climate change in light ...
Russia’s war on Ukraine [What Think Tanks are thinking]
The Ukraine Defence Contact Group (Ramstein group) of 54 countries supporting Kyiv in its struggle against Russia’s military aggression meets on 21 April to discuss sending more military equipment to Ukraine. As President Vladimir Putin visited his commanders in regions of Ukraine under Moscow’s military occupation, Russian forces stepped up heavy artillery bombardments and air strikes on the devastated, symbolically important Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Poland, Ukraine’s neighbour and staunch ally ...
Rule of law-related ‘super milestones’ in the recovery and resilience plans of Hungary and Poland
On 12 December 2022, the Council adopted the Hungarian recovery and resilience plan (RRP) based on the Commission’s positive evaluation. Compared to the original plan, a whole new component of measures has been added (Component 9: Governance and Public Administration) containing 38 measures with 111 milestones and targets. Of these, 27 milestones are referred to as ‘super milestones’ without which no payment under the RRF will be allowed. These ‘super milestones’ include some of the Key Implementation ...
Addressing the challenges of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth in national Recovery and Resilience Plans
This briefing paper provides an initial analysis of selected measures proposed by Germany, France, Italy and Poland in their respective Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs), and focuses on the areas of competitiveness, business environment/entrepreneurship, and (re)industrialisation. As the analysis has shown, targets and milestones set for the majority of the analysed measures seem to be realistic and enhance the probability of completing the planned projects on time; they are also tailored to the ...
Addressing the challenges of the social and territorial cohesion in National Recovery and Resilience Plans: a preliminary assessment
This briefing gives a comparative assessment of initiatives being undertaken in RRF Pillar 4 across a sample of four National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs) in Ireland, Italy, Poland and Portugal. In each of them, it covers three measures falling into the categories territorial infrastructure, targeting of specific territories, and adult and vocational training. Pillar 4 is covered as a cross-cutting theme that is picked up across a range of components, but there is substantial variation in ...
Briefing for a delegation of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality to Warsaw, Poland - 2-4 November 2022
This Briefing, written by the European Ϸվ’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the FEMM Committee, provides background information for the FEMM Mission to Poland scheduled from 2 to 4 November 2022. It includes information about Gender Equality, LGBTI+ Rights, Sexual and reproductive health and rights and Refugees in Poland.