New CIR's report: "The Council presidency and European Foreign Policy – Challenges for Poland in 2011"

The subject of the presidency of the Council of the EU has so far been widely covered in the literature. However, a thorough analysis of the presidency in Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) is still missing, especially in the light of the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. This article attempts to fill this gap and approaches the subject from two perspectives. On the one hand, it identifies the different roles of the presidency and pinpoints the challenges of chairmanship in the foreign policy field. On the other hand, it focuses on the challenges that are specific to the Polish presidency in the second half of 2011. Among these are the lack of presidency experience and institutional memory as well as the new type of presidency, following the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in December 2009.
Drawing on secondary and on original fieldwork, the article offers new insights into how challenges were tackled by previous presidencies and whether there are any important lessons to be learnt by the Poles from these past experiences.