Poland has chosen the apple as the official fruit of its European Union (EU) presidency and will offer Polish apples to participants in the meetings. For this purpose, the Polish Ministry of Agriculture has ordered more than 82 000 apples.

This initiative was inspired by the promotion of strawberries during the Polish presidency in 2011, when around three tonnes of strawberries were ordered. 

It should be noted that Poland is the largest producer of apples in Europe and ranks fourth in the world. The country boasts 150,000 hectares of apple orchards, the largest in the European Union, and 80,500 orchards producing around 4 million tonnes of apples every year.

Poland holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for the second time on 1 January this year, having previously held the Presidency in the second half of 2011.