As Poland unveils its EU presidency logo, ‘European minister’ Mikołaj Dowgielewicz tells the English Service at Polish Radio that recent developments in North Africa and the finance crisis will have a major impact on the six-month presidency.

The logo consists of six arrow heads directed upwards in red – symbolising Poland with the national flag – orange, blue, green, black and yellow.

"The designer is the outstanding graphic artist Jerzy Janiszewski, author of the Solidarity logo amongst others," Prime Minister Tusk said at a press conference launching the logo.

"What we also believe is that Mr Janiszewski has managed to show that Solidarity became a foundation for another success, namely that Poland is recognised because it is moving forwards, that it is energetic, that we know how to win, and  that we are not afraid of completely new challenges," the PM added.

‘Difficult debates’

“During the presidency, Poland will have to continue some of the most difficult debates on immigration policy and will be talking about the rescue packages for some of the eurozone member states,” Dowgielewicz told our reporter Michal Kubicki.

Commenting on French and Italian calls to tighten Schengen Zone border controls in the wake of the Arab Spring, the minister said: “Nobody really wants to undo Schengen but it’s certainly a political issue in countries such as France and Italy and we’ll have to see what can be done to reassure these countries without destroying [Schengen]”.

“Poland is going to defend the idea of Schengen because we think that this is one of the biggest achievements of the EU,” he adds. (pg)

Listen to the interview with the minister for more...