Special attention was paid to current threats connected with illegal migration and the crisis caused by energy prices. During the meeting in Budapest, President Emmanuel Macron presented priorities of the French presidency in the EU Council including, among others, migration and asylum policy.

High energy prices

As far as energy is concerned, at present, European countries face two basic problems - high gas prices and manipulation from Russia, as well as the issue of ETS system. Poland has doubts as to present functioning of the EU system of trading with the rights to CO2 emissions. The increase of allowances prices is not controlled, which favours speculations. The head of the Polish government will raise the necessity to rebuild the system in the next session of the European Council. The Prime Minister expressed his hope that his reasons will be understood by other states, who are also dependent on the ETS system and also don’t want it to be prone to speculations.

Situation on the eastern border of the European Union

Since June 2021 there have been hybrid attacks on the Polish-Belarussian border behind Aleksander Lukashenko regime. It is an organised action controlled and supervised by the Belarusian service. At the same time, it is the biggest attempt to destabilise the whole European Union for the last 30 years. Prime Minister Morawiecki thanked the prime ministers of the Visegrad Group and the President of France for words of recognition for the measures taken by our country. – We must be able to defend our external borders. We can talk what system should be shaped inside but we need to counteract human smuggling and using people as live shields (as it is now done by Lukashenko) against the European Union. This is the principal rule in the defence of the EU border and in the migration policy – added the head of the Polish government.

Politicians also talked about sanctions. We know that Belarus is afraid of economic sanctions and trade blockades – we have these tools on tap. If the situation escalates or Minsk and Moscow look for new mechanisms to destabilise this part of Europe, we will not hesitate to present to the European Commission new solutions with a more determined reaction against such practices – concluded the Prime Minister.