The Government Plenipotentiary and the heads of government administration units have properly planned their tasks related to Poland’s Presidency in the EU. The dates for the implementation of individual tasks and the detailed scopes of responsibility for each of them have been already set, while the rules for coordination of their implementation have been defined clearly. In doing so, representatives of the government administration relied on the experience of the states that had been already presiding over the EU.
The Government Plenipotentiary has presented a preliminary list of priorities of the Polish Presidency. The working agenda of meetings to be held within Poland’s Presidency has been also elaborated (the number of meetings may stand at as many as several thousand). The Plenipotentiary has also appointed five teams to serve as an advisory back office: the team for budget, the team for promotion and culture, the team for human resources management, the team for logistics and security, and the team for programming.
For the realisation of the tasks that Poland is facing, a special Presidency Service has been established with about 1,200 persons. A system of training events, placements and study visits has been launched by the Government Plenipotentiary to provide for professional preparation of officials to do their job.
Poland intends to improve and make the best possible use of its Presidency in the Council of the EU through the introduction of a special computer system containing Poland’s stand on all matters of vital importance to the Presidency, which may become ”the heart of Presidency”, so to speak. It will allow for obtaining the most important information during sessions of individual bodies of the EU Council immediately.
NIK auditors have found, however, certain minor irregularities in the preparation processes. The said system has been introduced with a delay, therefore the government has to do its best in order to develop all the important information and to introduce it to the system on time. The NIK has also observed that the role of the Prime Minister during Poland’s Presidency in the EU Council has to be clarified, since it has changed after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force.
The biggest delays have been found with regard to the area of internal affairs, IT systems, communication systems and tasks of special services. Last year, only a small percentage of recourses designated for these purposes was spent. Still, certain progress has been recently observed in the field, claims the NIK. Auditors are to examine the progress of these projects once again during the NIK’s state budget execution audits that have been just commenced.
NIK auditors are also worried about the staff fluctuations in the Presidency Service. Within one year only (from August 2009 to August 2010) almost 30 percent of its staff (325 people) were exchanged with others. Therefore, it seems advisable to develop an appropriate incentive system for the Service members, for example, to set the rules for dividing money assigned for incentive bonuses, which had not been done by the end of the NIK’s audit.
