Civil unrest in northern Africa has prompted analysts to ask the question whether Poland’s priorities in its upcoming EU presidency will mean Warsaw will put aside its promotion of the Eastern Partnership in order to make way for a policy rethink towards the Bloc’s southern neighbourhood.

Poland is a major backer of the Eastern Partnership, which aims to bring countries formerly part of the USSR closer to European structures.

Andrzej Cieszkowski, the Polish Foreign Minister’s Plenipotentiary for the Eastern Partnership does not believe that there will be any “competition” between the Eastern Partnership and the EU’s Union for the Mediterranean.

“The southern dimension is not a threat to Poland’s intentions in eastern Europe,” Cieszkowski told Polish Radio reporter John Beauchamp.

Meanwhile, political scientist and current MEP for Hungary, George Schoepflin explains that any matter concerning the EU’s foreign policy does not lie within the competences of the countries which hold the rotating presidency of the EU, adding that the Eastern Partnership “is not going to go away.”

Peter Doran from the Centre for European Policy Analysis in Washington, DC, adds that the “[unrest] has helped to refocus the policy discussion,” stating that EU should be aware of its entire neighbourhood, and not just concentrate on one region. (jb)