EC president attends high-level meeting of EU Commission in Poland
Prime Minister Donald Tusk has welcomed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk, northern Poland, the venue of a high-level meeting of European Union commissioners.
EU commissioners are convening in Gdansk on February 6 and February 7 for a session of the College of Commissioners, an event that always takes place at the beginning of a country's six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Poland officially took over the EU Council presidency on January 1, 2025.
Guests arrived on Thursday for the opening of the event, a gala dinner held together with members of the Polish government.
On Friday after 11:00 am, Tusk together with former Polish President Lech Walesa and Gdansk Mayor Aleksandra Dulkiewicz welcomed the commissioners at the European Solidarity Centre, where they will participate in discussions in thematic clusters, the conclusions of which will be shared during a working lunch later in the day.
Tusk will also attend a bilateral meeting with von der Leyen, followed by a joint press conference.
"Gdansk was chosen intentionally," Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka, a deputy minister at the Prime Minister's Office responsible for the organisation of Poland's EU presidency, told PAP. "It is the cradle of Solidarity," she added.
Solidarity was the first independent trade union in then-communist Eastern Europe that transformed into an anti-authoritarian social movement and ultimately led to the collapse of communist rule in Poland. (PAP)
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