The Lisbon Treaty has introduced numerous changes to the shape and role of the Council Presidency. However, it seems that the actual effect of those changes is not so big as might appear from the text of the Treaty. While a legal and institu¬tional analysis of the Presidency on the basis of the Treaty of Lisbon gives a clear picture of the significantly changed role, quantitative and qualitative empirical research conducted by the author among officials involved in the Presidencies of Spain and Belgium do not fully confirm this picture. This article aims at analysing the reasons and manifestations of certain discrepancies between the planned shape and powers of the Council Presidency in the Treaty of Lisbon and its actual role in practice.
Poland, being the biggest country among the new Member States, has a welldefined foreign policy interest, particularly towards the Eastern neighbourhood. This article examines the involvement of Polish Presidency of the Council in the development of the foreign and security policy of the European Union. Considering the serious limitations placed on the role of the rotating Presidency in the post-Lisbon institutional framework, the analysis investigates the patterns of action Poland followed, which involved the providing of the operational backup for the High Representative as well as bringing its own contributions to the agenda of the Foreign Affairs Council. As the article demonstrates, the rotating Presidency can still redound to the further development of the foreign and security policy.
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