In the immense cavernous hall of the international conference center in Katowice, in front of thousands of participants from the business world, Ursula von der Leyen was full of flattery on May 7. “Today I can say: Poland is back. » In this industrial city in the southwest of the country, “capital” of the national mining basin, the President of the European Commission opened the European Economic Congress, a major annual conference of businesses and investors, celebrating the 20e anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Union (EU), 1er May 2004. A few minutes later, on the same stage, Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, returned the courtesy: “Dear Ursula, it is a very important signal that you are here. Poland has indeed become a leader in Europe. »
Beyond the political obsequiousness, good war one month before the European elections, there was a real wind of optimism blowing in the air-conditioned lounges of this great business gathering. Twenty years ago, Poland’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was 48% of the EU average (at purchasing power parity). Today it is 82%, the equivalent of Portugal. Unemployment reached 20%; it now stands at 2.9%. In the first fifteen years, up to 2.5 million Poles emigrated, mainly to the United Kingdom, Germany and Ireland. Since 2018, the flow has reversed, and the country has recorded a clear return of its population. “What has happened in twenty years is a miracle”says Brunon Bartkiewicz, the president for Poland of the Dutch bank ING.
In this case, the ways of the economic Holy Spirit reached Poland through two main channels: European funds and membership of the single market, which made it a destination of choice for industrial relocations. In Katowice, a city of 300,000 inhabitants, money from EU structural funds is spread everywhere. The international conference center, in fact, was built thanks to this windfall. The same goes for the hall housing the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Silesian Museum, located right next door, which has taken over a former coal mine.
The star-spangled banner adorning all these buildings makes it possible, on this day in May, to organize a treasure hunt, in search of Brussels funding. “It’s obvious today to be in the EU”, praises Dominika Koczorek, who participates in the game, pen in hand. The 25-year-old student returns from a three-month Erasmus exchange in the Canary Islands. “Look at Georgia, a country I have been to four times: they dream of joining the EU”adds her friend Zuzia Markiton.
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