11 May 2005

Most politicians describe Poland's first year in the European Union as successful. Even Polish Euroskeptics do not attack the idea of European integration as fiercely as they did during the pre-accession period.

"Poland is closing its first year in the European Union with a feeling of satisfaction," President Aleksander Kwaśniewski stated April 29.

"Poland has not been flooded with cheap food from Western Europe; highly qualified workers have not fled Poland; bureaucratic structures have proven efficient and well prepared for cooperation within the EU, which has been reflected best by direct payments transferred on time to almost 1.4 million farmers," the president said. He also pointed out that none of the dramatic forecasts on Poland's EU membership has come true. The president believes that Poland has proven its preparedness for integration.

"What happened May 1 last year proved to be of greater significance to the Polish economy than we had expected," Prime Minister Marek Belka said. "We have won a solid international position, both in politics and economics, and there are new impulses for further development. I simply cannot think of an area of the economy that has lost due to our joining the European Union," the prime minister continued.
The assessment of the Polish administration, local governments and entrepreneurs with respect to EU membership is very high, but the Belka says that the year 2006 will be more difficult as flows of EU money to Poland increase. During the months to come, Poland should try to combat certain biased opinions in the West regarding threats to the EU labor market from new members.

"Poland has benefited from European Union membership and it feels its opinions are being listened to, it participates in the decision-making process," said EU Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hübner, EU commissioner for regional policy, adding that Poland is among the countries which are most efficiently adjusting their law to EU standards.

An overwhelming majority of Polish politicians admit that EU membership has enhanced the power of Poland's foreign policy. Much like the president, they believe that Poland's greatest international success over the past 12 months was its involvement in the resolution of the Ukrainian crisis and convincing the EU that it should be engaged in mediation efforts in Kiev. "If Poland had not transformed bilateral relations between Kiev and Warsaw into multilateral mediation involving the European Union, the probability of bloodshed in Ukraine would have been much higher with ensuing consequences for the European Union," Belka observed.

"The first year of Poland's membership in the European Union was successful, even though there were no fireworks," said Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) leader Józef Oleksy. He believes that ratification of the EU Constitution Treaty is Poland's greatest challenge today. Oleksy added that Polish institutions have efficiently established cooperation with EU institutions. The disputes in which Poland is involved prove that it perceives the problems and takes care of its interests.

Minister of Agriculture Wojciech Olejniczak says not only the countryside, but Poland as a whole has benefited from EU accession. He says that changes in the mentality of rural residents are of great significance. The minister also pointed out that the once skeptical farmers now understand that it pays to be in the EU and added that not only producers but also the food processing industry benefited from integration. Polish food producers cope excellently with competition on the difficult agricultural market. Exports of agricultural produce have grown considerably and yielded funds larger than even optimists expected, the minister concluded.

EU membership also led Poland to increase investment in research in order to gain funds for this purpose from the EU budget.

Michał Kleiber, minister of scientific research and information technology, says that Polish science has clearly benefited from accession. One advantage is the chance to gain much higher funds for research than Poland could have invested on its own. Another advantage is that Polish scientists can participate in large-scale international research programs. This involves easier access to EU research findings.

Even Poland's chief Euroskeptics do not call the achievements of the first year in the EU into question. "Poland's present situation in the European Union is difficult but not excessively so," said Roman Giertych, leader of the League of Polish Families (LPR). He added that a final assessment of EU accession would only be possible after four to five years. Giertych, once a fierce opponent of accession, said he saw no need for an immediate referendum on Poland's withdrawal from the EU. He made it clear, however, that the tendency to build "a European superpower under the leadership of France and Germany" was dangerous for Poland.

Giertych pointed out that the two main objections voiced by the LPR before accession have become a reality. This refers first and foremost to the abandonment of the Nice voting system in the EU Constitution. The LPR politician argues that signing the constitution was the greatest failure of Poland's first year of membership. Another pessimistic forecast involves reductions in funds for poorer regions.

The LPR leader says economic growth has slowed during Poland's first year in the EU. "Before May 1, 2004 economic growth amounted to nearly 5 percent, now it is only slightly over 4 percent. Inflation has grown, as have prices and living costs, and this is not matched by adequate pay growth," he said.

A year after EU accession, 63 percent of Poles are satisfied with EU membership, according to an Ipsos opinion poll from April. Dissatisfaction was expressed by 24 percent of those polled. In November 2004, 53 percent of respondents said they were satisfied, while 34 percent were dissatisfied. Regardless of the high proportion of positive evaluations, the EU does not seem to enjoy much trust among respondents. As many as 33 percent expressed relatively low trust in the organization and 12 percent said they did not trust the EU at all. Only 35 percent described their trust in the EU as relatively high and 8 percent as high.

The poll was taken nationwide April 9-14 on a sample of 1,017 Poles over the age of 15.

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