The minister came to Brussels for a meeting of the heads of finance ministries of the EU-27. He presented the priorities of the Polish Presidency of the EU Council, which will start on January 1.
Defense
“First of all, security understood in many dimensions. (…) We are convinced that Europe needs more solidarity in financing its defense effort. We must be prepared as Europe for new challenges,” he said.
Competitiveness
He mentioned competitiveness as the second point. “We know the report by (former ECB president) Mario Draghi and we must focus primarily on reducing energy prices. We will discuss this during the January ECOFIN (meeting of finance ministers of EU countries – PAP) in Brussels. It is extremely important for us to build the competitiveness of the European economy, and energy prices will be absolutely key here,” Domański emphasized.
Deregulation
The next priority, as he said, is deregulation and the fight against excesses bureaucratic burdens faced by European businesses.
Domański assured that there will be a discussion on the situation in Ukraine at each ministerial meeting. “Ukraine needs an unconditional, clear support from European Union countries and (…) it will definitely receive such support,” he said.
“Some countries have a slightly different view”
When asked about the issue of investments in defense, the head of the ministry admitted that “some countries have a slightly different view on the tools for financing increased defense efforts.” At the same time, he expressed his belief that these countries are aware that there is no return to the policy from before the war in Ukraine.
“We have new ones geopolitical challengesthis on Russia’s part is and will be valid in the coming years and Europe simply must be ready for it,” he emphasized. He added that it is extremely important to build a strong European defense industry.
There will be no strong economy without lower energy prices
Domański pointed to this as one of the biggest current obstacles to building a strong European economy energy prices.
“Of course, it is very important for us that this model of building the energy market is a model that takes into account the needs of all Member States. In Poland, of course, we focus on renewable sources and are building the first Polish nuclear power plant. For me, the issue of interconnectors between member states is extremely important. We want to build a strong European energy market and then we will be able to reduce energy prices,” he concluded.
From Brussels Łukasz Osiński (PAP)
