Barroso attended the opening ceremony of the impressive headquarters, situated at 139 Rue Stevin, a few hundred metres from the Commission's flagship Berlaymont building.
The previous Polish Permanent Representation, situated on Avenue de Tervuren, three kilometres from Schuman roundabout, had become too small and will now serve the Polish state for other purposes.
Every EU member country has a permanent representation – or Perm Rep – in Brussels, staffed by diplomats, to represent its interests and take part in sessions of the Council of Ministers and lower level meetings.
In his speech, Barroso said jokingly that as he was having lunch with Tusk on an elevated floor of the Permanent Representation, he was able to admire the Berlaymont, the historic building that hosts the Commission's offices.
Normally, he said, he only catches a glimpse of his own headquarters for a few seconds before his chauffeur drives him into the underground garage.
The Commission president said the proximity of the two buildings was also a metaphor for the closeness of the Commission and Poland's positions on the future of Europe, and for their shared ambition to build a stronger Union.
Barroso said that after his talks with Tusk, he was confident that Poland would deliver "a strong and ambitious presidency," with an "equally strong and ambitious European agenda". He cited as priority areas for the next six months the internal market, energy issues, education and the reinforcement of the Union's neighbourhood policy, including its partnership with countries to its east.
The Commission president also said he had discussed with his Polish counterpart the EU's next long-term European budget.
The Commission will publish its proposal for the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020 "one or two days" before the start of the Polish Presidency, Barroso confirmed. The issue will therefore not be on the agenda of the EU summit on 24 June.
He said that the Commission proposal would target the areas "where the EU makes a difference" and "brings real added value". As specific areas he mentioned the knowledge-based job agenda, energy security, research and innovation, green technologies, and "pushing Europe's interests on the global stage".
In an apparent effort to please Tusk, Barroso also mentioned cohesion policy. Poland, the biggest new EU member from the 2004 enlargement round, has as a top priority maintaining "solidarity" as a leading principle in EU funding.
Calling for solidarity
Polish officials frequently use the term 'solidarity', an emblematic word which has a powerful meaning in Poland's recent history, to call for European assistance for poorer regions. In the early 1980s, the Solidarność trade union was instrumental in speeding up the collapse of the communist regime, not only in Poland but across Eastern Europe as a whole.
"I said it and I will repeat it: without cohesion there is no solidarity, and without solidarity, we cannot have a real Union," Barroso said. He also indicated that he expected discussions on the next long-term EU budget to continue well beyond the Polish Presidency.
Tusk spoke about "functional friendship" between his country and the EU institutions. Indeed, during its stint at the EU helm, Poland will hold leading posts not only in the Council, but also in the European Parliament, which has a Polish president, Jerzy Buzek.
Regarding the budget, Tusk said it was extremely important to secure the future of cohesion policy, as well as to have an EU budget that is "as strong as possible". He also linked the capacity of Europe to enlarge and to project its influence worldwide to the budget means that are made available.
Tusk said that his country had been a co-initiator of the EU's Eastern Partnership (EaP), launched in May 2009 under the Czech EU Presidency. Indeed, the EU's Eastern Partnership was initially a Polish-Swedish initiative but was taken over by the European Commission in December 2008 and launched in May 2009, under the Czech EU Presidency.
"Now it's time to pick up [its] first fruits," he said, adding that a Warsaw summit dedicated to the EaP would be "a great opportunity" to advance the project, which covers Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Asked if the two leaders had discussed proposals for a common European candidate for the IMF seat left vacant after the resignation of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Barroso said that the issue had not been discussed.
On Friday, Tusk said that Leszek Balcerowicz, architect of his country's 'shock therapy' reforms in the early 1990s, could be a good candidate to become the new head of the International Monetary Fund. However, according to various sources, consensus is being built around the candidacy of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde.
