Poland: Tusk Wants to End the War

Announcing Polish presidency of the EU Council for the next six months, the comprehensive program has a focus on security and the threat from Russia

Peace talks on Russia’s war against Ukraine are in the pipeline for the next half year, possibly starting already this winter, says Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.

Donald Tusk. Photo: Polish government

On 1 January, Poland will take over the rotating leadership of the European Council from Hungary. The program is already published and is focused on security. Poland wants EU to take the initiative in establishing a security framework for controlling the rogue behavior of Russia, and others, towards EU. The first words are: “Russia has destroyed the security architecture in Europe - it continues to wage an aggressive war against its neighbour, builds up its offensive military capabilities, and launches hybrid attacks.” The aim of the Polish presidency is to counteract and dismantle the threat.

The program marks a distinct departure from the slack towards Russia displayed by the Hungarian presidency in this past semester.

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Warsaw on Thursday 12 December to give a rundown on his talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris last weekend, prime minister Tusk said on Tuesday.

"The day after tomorrow, President Macron will be here. He will want to inform about the results of the Paris talks, where the meeting took place with President (elect) Trump and President Zelensky," Donald Tusk told a government meeting.

The Elysee presidential office later said in a statement that Macron and Tusk will discuss "the issue of European support for Ukraine in a new transatlantic context, and ahead of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2025."

The Kyiv Post details the rounds of talks that Tusk is going to undertake in the coming weeks. First, he has already talked to Zelensky and he announced that French President Macron is due in Warsaw to brief Tusk on the talks he had with Donald Trump and Zelensky in Paris the other day when all were in Paris for the re-inauguration of the Notre Dame cathedral.

“Our (EU) presidency will notably be co-responsible for what the political landscape will look like, perhaps how the situation will look during (peace) negotiations, which could begin – though there are still question marks — in the winter of this year,” Tusk told reporters.

Tusk added that German opposition leader Friedrich Merz – who tops opinion polls ahead of elections in February – will also come to Poland following a visit to Kyiv.

The prime minister said he was “in constant contact” with Scandinavian and Baltic allies, “who see in Poland and Poland's (EU) presidency a leader” in peace-building initiatives between Ukraine and Russia.

“I spoke with the Swedish prime minister, and in a dozen hours the Estonian prime minister will be here in Warsaw,” added Tusk.

Much-needed leadership

Poland is the sixth-largest economy in the EU and is growing into a leading power. Poland has arguably the fourth-largest military of the EU. The somewhat confusing rotation of chairmanship of the European Council is becoming a major issue for EU. Hungary, a minuscule economy and a fringe political actor, was allowed to practically stall all initiatives in the Council in this last semester of 2024. Leadership was completely disabled, because Viktor Orbán has very little following in the EU and other member states largely avoided or refused to deal with him, which obviously is a major problem for his chairmanship of the political council.

In his presidency program, Donald Tusk now wants to focus on the security tasks and leave economy and migration slightly in the background for a while.

The 7 focus areas identified are first of all external security, given the current tense international relations. Then, increased financing for the ‘East Shield’ of defense investments against Russia and Russian interest, including the hybrid warfare. Re-building the European defense industry. Bolstering EU support for Ukraine, scaling up to fill the gaps left by USA. Accelerating EU enlargement processes for the applicant countries. Imposing tougher sanctions on Russia. Deepening transatlantic ties, aligning with USA in strategic matters as much as possible.

Announcing the Polish presidency of the Council of the EU 10/12/24 (Flickr)