On 1 July Poland takes over the presidency of the European Union for the first time.

Inheriting the presidency in mid-2011 looks like a mixed blessing.

What has gone wrong? Why is there so much talk of an EU crisis? Some people have a blunt, noisy answer: "Too much Europe!" EU structures and policies are said to be creating more problems than they are solving: over-complex institutions, over-ambitious integration (the eurozone, above all), over-centralisation of decision-making. We see a quite new and disturbing decline in confidence at the very heart of European solidarity as it has developed since the second world war.

We can't choose the problems that life throws at us. We do decide how we face them. And for Poland, European integration is not a crisis. It's an inspiration.

Twenty-two years ago, when communism ended, Poland's GDP shrank by 12%. Inflation ran out of control. Key export markets vanished. We had to build a modern democracy and a thriving market economy from scratch, while disentangling ourselves from the Warsaw pact.

With huge efforts – and generous help from our European partners – we have succeeded. Poland's economy is growing at more than 4% a year. We are now the sixth largest economy in Europe, and one of the top 20 economies in the world. Poland is the only EU member to have maintained positive growth through the recent economic storms.

It's no surprise that Eurobarometer finds Poles expressing strong confidence in the EU. All our success would not have been possible without the collective investment in institutional stability and solidarity that the EU has delivered.

But it is not enough to be optimistic and positive. We also must be realistic. The EU does face painful decisions in the months and years to come. Poland will not accept that the answer lies in less solidarity, or "less integration". That is the sure path to disintegration, leaving us all worse off – and with new divisions.

Poland is not yet a member of the eurozone, but it is our strategic commitment to join when the conditions are right. We see the euro as a vital national interest, and will play our part, as president, in getting the right decisions taken.

Too many of Europe's rules and regulations were designed for very different times. We'll be pressing the case for smarter integration, to release the full potential of the single market and make Europe competitive. An EU-wide common sales contract, cheaper roaming services and a better EU patent regime would transform the way we all do business across Europe.

National governments are facing hard financial constraints, so Europe must use its resources more wisely, but with no less ambition. The "Europe 2020" strategy requires a budget that maintains Europe's investment in a common future and makes the common agricultural policy more efficient. Europe needs smarter energy policies that reconcile production, supply and distribution with environmental concerns.

The wider context is dramatic. As we haggle over our internal problems, hundreds of millions of people look to the EU for help and hope. Countries in the Balkans and in eastern Europe are banging on Europe's door. Democratic movements for change have emerged across the world. These changes are not easy. The human cost can be high. Warsaw is the seat of the EU's borders agency, Frontex. We want to empower the agency to help support member states when migration pressures get acute, as in the southern Mediterranean today.

In short, Europe will make a strategic mistake if it retreats into unhappy introspection. Poland takes very seriously the recent stark warnings from Washington about Europe's unsatisfactory contribution to shared defence burdens.

Part of the answer to the security challenges facing Europe lies in maintaining steadfast openness to new members, and to the core principle that integration is the best security. Our presidency should see Croatia's accession negotiations completed, and new progress made with Turkey and Iceland.

Poland naturally wants to see progress on Europe's own unfinished business. We will work to set up a new framework for co-operation between the EU and Russia, its largest neighbour. We also want to see the EU-Ukraine association agreement signed, paving the way for a free trade area. We will push to advance Association Agreement talks with Moldova. And we'll do what we can to help Belarus, now slumping into severe difficulties after years of oppressive mismanagement.

Poland made strong steady strides towards its current success thanks to outside engagement. We in turn want to develop and contribute to the new structures and policies Europe needs in these turbulent times, not least the emerging External Action Service led by Catherine Ashton. In January this year Poland launched the idea of a new European Endowment for Democracy. This would focus European efforts to help our neighbours in eastern Europe and north Africa, reaching out to civil society and reforming governments alike with practical and efficient support.

These presidency policy initiatives all show that Poland is keeping optimistic faith with the European ideal.

Thirty years ago the Gdansk ship-workers led the way and changed the world, as millions of Poles joined the Solidarity movement to insist on their basic democratic rights and freedoms. The Polish presidency wants to help the EU draw strength from the ambition and patient wisdom of that movement. Poland itself is an EU success story.

By investing in solidarity a growing, open and secure Europe delivers spectacular results, and sets an example to other countries and regions now starting their own transitions.

As prime minister Donald Tusk said last year on receiving the Charlemagne prize: "We Poles really believe in Europe." We will invigorate Europe with our faith.