Dit’s hard to find a more chemically pure example of the success of the European Union (EU) than that of Poland. Economically, the main country of Central Europe (40 million inhabitants), which has just celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its accession to the EU, has benefited enormously from this entry into the single market.
Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita increased from 48% to 82% of the EU average in twenty years, unemployment has almost disappeared, the exodus of the population towards Western Europe which took place in first years is over. According to the Polish Economic Institute (PIE), Polish growth was 40% higher than if the country had not joined the EU. All of Central Europe has made a spectacular economic leap over the past twenty years, but no country has progressed as much as Poland.
The country received net European funds (after deduction of the Polish contribution to the European budget) of more than 2% of GDP per year, a colossal amount, worthy of a Marshall Plan which the EU would do well to brag about more loudly . Access to the single market, without any trade barriers, has enabled European factories, mainly German, to find a competitive production area nearby, with wage costs three times lower than in Germany or France.
And yet, politically, enthusiasm is hesitant. Certainly, a generation of young people who were in their twenties around accession in 2004 remains firmly pro-European. “The big story of my parents’ generation was the end of communism, ours was joining the EU”recalls Lukasz Trembaczowski, sociologist at the University of Katowice, in the southwest of the country, who was finishing his studies during the accession.
Lukewarm support
But the pro-European intoxication of the first years has passed. Today, polls indicate that Poles mostly have a good image of the EU (at 52%, slightly higher than the average of 44% for all twenty-seven member countries), but that still leaves 38 % neutral opinions and 10% negative. As for joining the eurozone, the population seems quite firmly opposed to it: 37% are for, 56% against. The zloty, which provides a competitive advantage and remains an important national symbol, is absolutely not called into question.
This lukewarm support for the EU follows eight years of populist government, which left its mark. The Law and Justice party (PiS), in power from 2015 to 2023, systematically attacked Brussels, making it an ideal scapegoat, even if it never directly defended leaving the EU. Over the years, the current president, Andrzej Duda, has notably described the EU as “imaginary community that hasn’t brought us much” and criticized Brussels with these words: “Europe abandoned us in 1945, leave us alone today. » The political standoff was very violent, leading to the suspension of European funds.
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