Poland set to take over EU presidency

[Feuer Frei!]

Poland is to take over the rotating presidency of the EU for the first time since it joined the bloc in 2004.
Its priorities for the six-month term include building relations with the EU's eastern and southern neighbours, and encouraging economic growth.
It also says it wants to promote further EU enlargement.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk is hoping that the EU presidency will boost his Civic Platform party and help it retain power in national elections in October.
The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says Poland wants to portray itself as a regional power with ideas worth heeding, with perhaps chief among them a focus on the bloc's eastern neighbours.
It hopes an "Eastern Partnership" summit in September gathering leaders from the EU and six former Soviet nations will give the initiative new impetus, and wants to conclude negotiations on a free trade agreement with Ukraine.



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