Sikorski’s warning to the West, the possibilities of a EuroStack(ed) future

Polish* saying of the week: Bez pracy nie ma kołaczy.
“Without work, there are no kolaches.”

Meaning: Hard labor will be rewarded (with a sweet, circular pastry) – as such, we are taking next week off, and will be back May 8! In the meantime: Happy May 1!

*And Czech!

APRIL 24, 2025 Highlights MEPs say no to single national plans in the EU budget. On April 23, the European Parliament's budget committee voted to approve a draft resolution on the 2028-34 EU budget (MFF), which opposes the European Commission's idea of applying the “one national plan per member state” model of the post-pandemic recovery fund (RRF) to MFFspending. The RRF model is a highly centralised spending plan, with a rigid payment schedule and reform requirements, all negotiated between Brussels and an EU country's government. Instead, MEPs want to maintain the current MFF model with its separate programmes for cohesion policy and rural development, with its provisions for the involvement of regional and local authorities, and with the built-in supervisory role of the European Parliament itself (absent in the RRF model). MEPs will vote on the MFF resolution during the European Parliament’s plenary session on May 5-8, but any major changes to the budget committee's draft are unlikely.

The bigger picture | The European Commission intends to table its budget proposal for 2028-34 in July, including in it key tenets for cohesion and agricultural policy reforms. MEPs are equal co-legislators with the EU Council on the details of cohesion policy, but they can only say “yes” or “no” to the EU's overall multiannual budget, without having the right to amend it. That vote is likely to take place in 2027. Nevertheless, they are trying to influence the shape of the EU’s common budget in non-binding resolutions such as this one. Whether the MEPs are successful will depend on how effectively they combine these efforts with pressuring their domestic governments to follow suit.

The fight for – and over – EuroStack. In recent months, European tech independence has become a hot topic. One way to frame the issue is the “EuroStack,” an idea built on the notion that the EU should not rely on third countries to provide it with either software or hardware, and that the sovereignty of the European “digital stack” – a set of tech solutions that work together – is achievable. In practice, EuroStack would mean reaching autonomy for all infrastructural layers, from chips, through networks and the cloud, to data and AI. Behind the specific EuroStack idea is an informal group of experts, business leaders, and politicians, but there are also two competing factions within the European Parliament's Industry Committee (ITRE) working on their own documents on tech sovereignty. The main draft report, led by far-right MEP Sarah Knafo (ENS), drew criticism from other ITRE members, among them Polish MEP Michał Kobosko (Renew), e.g. for praising US Donald Trump's administration, and fixating on deregulation while lacking constructive proposals. The dissenters are now preparing their own report, which is intended to be much more aligned with the EuroStack initiative.

The bigger picture | Initially championed by a loose coalition of academics, trade organizations, NGOs and businesses, the idea of EuroStack is quickly gaining mainstream approval, including endorsements from the French and incoming German governments. On April 15, a roundtable on Poland’s role in a “technologically sovereign Europe” organised by Polityka Insight and MEP Michał Kobosko (Renew), discussed the promises and challenges of the “Europeanisation” of digital infrastructure. Among the more significant obstacles highlighted was the issue of funding these investments, economic risks from protectionist policies, as well as difficulties with finding European alternatives in certain areas of the stack.

Minister Czarnecka faces the tricky task of transforming the Polish coal industry. April 23 marked the first day of the European Economic Conference in Katowice, a major annual gathering which this year featured a Polish presidency special: a sub-conference by the Polish Ministry of Industry, devoted to energy security – one of the presidency’s official priorities. In the Polish context, energy security is closely related to coal, which is still the source of over half of the country’s energy use, unlike any other EU member. Minister of Energy Marzena Czarnecka teased at the conference a key white paper on the industry’s transition, with the first draft to be published in June. The document will contain three parts, covering investment in post-mining areas, support for people affected by the transition, and management of the transition process.

The bigger picture | For Czarnecka, the EEC is a rare opportunity to earn some good publicity. Like the conference, her office is located in Katowice, making it the only ministry outside of Warsaw. The city is also the capital of the Silesia region – featuring multiple coal mines, it is the part of Poland most impacted by the energy transition. And coal miners have historically been a very strong interest group in Polish politics. Needless to say, Czarnecka’s job will be difficult.

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In Brief The Commission will present several options to move away from Russian gas. The roadmap for the EU's complete independence from Russian fossil fuels, which the European Commission is set to present on May 6, will list several options with pros and cons for EU countries to consider. One of the options currently under discussion is a swiftly implementable ban on spot (short-term) purchases of natural gas from Russia. A more future-oriented option, which would require legislative changes at the EU level in the coming months, would allow EU companies to terminate long-term contracts with Russians eg. by invoking force majeure. Ukraine at the centre of the Gymnich meeting. The informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, which has no fixed agenda or written conclusions, will take place in Warsaw on May 7-8. In EU jargon, these semi-annual gatherings of top diplomats are known as the "Gymnich format", after the first such meeting in 1974 at Schloss Gymnich in Erftstadt, Germany. The main topic this year will of course be Ukraine. It is difficult to predict what stage the talks between the US, Russia, and Ukraine on ending the fighting will have reached by then, but surely the EU will continue to fear being sidelined. Poland softened the Commission's deregulatory ideas. On April 25, representatives of the 27 EU countries will discuss the Polish presidency's compromise version of the Commission's omnibus proposals to simplify the due diligence (CSDD) and sustainable reporting (CSRD) directives. Faced with the need to find a majority in the EU Council and a future compromise with MEPs, the Polish presidency proposed, among other things, to reintroduce the obligation for EU companies to suspend business relationships with foreign partners if they hadn’t been able to successfully pressure the partners to prevent or remedy their negative impacts on the environment or human rights. EU raw materials policy: one year later. On May 5-7 in Kraków, senior policy representatives from EU countries will discuss raw materials security, the biggest event on the topic during Poland’s presidency. One year from the adoption of the European Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which established targets for domestic extraction as well as processing and recycling of materials by 2030, the participants will review implementation experiences and exchange further plans. The future of EU data strategy. On April 28–29, the The Future is Data conference will take place in Łódź. Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski will deliver the opening speech, while the European Commission’s digital policy chief Roberto Viola will discuss the data union strategy, which is currently in the works at the Commission. Other conference topics include data protection and the use of data in cities. After this warm-up, the Digital Summit in Gdańsk in June is expected to be the most important digital policy event of the Polish presidency. Noted I fear more the German aversion to armaments than the German army. In a speech before the Polish parliament, foreign minister Radosław Sikorski doubled down on his 2011 Berlin address, in which he claimed that he feared German power less than German inaction. I join the many millions across the globe who mourn the death of His Holiness Pope Francis. He was deeply compassionate. He cared about the great global challenges of our time — migration, climate change, inequalities, peace — as well as the everyday struggles of the one and all. said António Costa, president of the European Council, on X. The view from Poland Sikorski warned against the fall of the West in a major speech. On April 23, the foreign minister presented his annual statement to the Sejm outlining the priorities of Polish diplomacy. He named the resolution of the war in Ukraine as the most important international policy challenge at the moment. As the most dangerous trends for Poland in international politics, Sikorski listed the division of the world into spheres of influence by great powers, a global undermining of state sovereignty, the weakening of international organisations, and the growing importance of disinformation. In response, he said that Europe should take more responsibility for its own security, while also emphasising the need to maintain transatlantic unity. In essence, Sikorski warned against the disintegration of the West and called for strengthening the EU. Read more in Polityka Insight’s analysis. What to watch next week April 26-27 The Polish Weekend in the Mini-Europe Park in Brussels.

April 28-29 Informal meeting of environment ministers in Warsaw.

April 28-29 The future is data conference organised by the Ministry of Digital Affairs in Łódź.

April 29-30 Competitiveness of railway transport – a challenge and a necessity conference organised by the Ministry of Infrastructure in Wrocław.

April 30 Coreper II and Coreper I meetings in Brussels.

May 5 Coreper II meeting in Brussels.

May 6 European Commission to table REPowerEU Roadmap.

May 5-7 High Level Conference on EU Raw Materials Policy organised by the Ministry of Climate and Environment in Kraków.

May 7 The Warsaw Security Forum’s Public Dialogue in Warsaw.

May 7 Coreper II and Coreper I meetings in Brussels.

May 7-8 Informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers (Gymnich) in Warsaw.

Today's newsletter was curated by:
Authors: Tomasz Bielecki, Jan Jęcz, Tomasz Sawczuk
Editor: Hanna Kozłowska
Graphic design: Karolina Tomaszewska
Front-end development: Maciej Kurczewski
Project management and supervision: Joanna Bekker, Maciej Michalik, Weronika Rędziniak and Marcin Bąba

Photos: Adam Chelstowski / Forum, iStock, Freepik, www.gov.pl, Press materials of Web Summit.

About Polityka Insight:
POLITYKA INSIGHT is a source of knowledge about Polish and European politics and economy for business leaders, political decision-makers, and diplomats.

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