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Location: Turkey
Author(s): Hakan Samur
Title: A REVIEW OF THE FIRST NINE YEARS OF POLANDS MEMBERSHIP IN THE
EUROPEAN UNION
A REVIEW OF THE FIRST NINE YEARS OF POLANDS MEMBERSHIP IN THE
EUROPEAN UNION
Issue: 6/2013
Citation Hakan Samur. "A REVIEW OF THE FIRST NINE YEARS OF POLANDS MEMBERSHIP IN
style: THE EUROPEAN UNION". USAK Yearbook of Politics and International Relations 6:121-
139.
https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=319360
CEEOL copyright 2017
USAK YEARBOOK
Vol.6, Year 2013, pp. 121-139
Hakan SAMUR*
Abstract
The aim of European Union membership has topped Polands agenda
since the 1990s based on both historical and real reasons. The accession
to the EU which occurred in May 2004 has had many positive and nega-
tive economic, political and social impacts on Poland within the last nine
years. The first period of the countrys membership has been shaped by the
pressure of the global economic crisis and also includes the important years
in which initial experience was gathered. These years will determine the
future trajectory of development for the country. Besides general economic,
regional, and political impacts, in this article we will try to explain the im-
pacts of EU membership on Poland in terms of its more specific facets such
as migration and public opinion of the EU.
Keywords: Poland, European Union, Migration, Economic Crisis, Euro-
zone, Public Opinion of the EU
Introduction
In the post-1989 period, the European Union has been the most impor-
tant international figure in Polands economic, political and social recon-
struction, and it played the roles of both Polands primary objective and its
guide in a time when the country was determining a strategic outlook for
itself. Apart from the Unions sympathetic approach to regime changes in
Central and Eastern Europe and its positive attitude for expanding towards
the region, Polands strong passion to become a European, which comes
from the centuries-old ideal of Returning to Europe, and the desire for this
passion to come to fruition have effected this progression. In other words,
once becoming a member of the Union, the corridor function of Poland,
which it had played between East and West for a very long time, and the
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 123
through the Schengen System, the European Central Bank was established
in 1998, the transition to a common currency was completed in 2002 (al-
though some of the members have opted out), and endeavours to formulate
a common constitution began in the early 2000s in order to achieve a much
closer political union. Accession to the Union for the Central and Eastern
European countries as well as Malta and Cyprus was accomplished in 2004
and 2007.
But the formulation of goals in accordance with plans didnt mean that
these aims would be successful in practice. That is why it is possible to
say that post-2004, when Poland became a member, marks the best period
of years to review with regard to the practice of deepening efforts within
the EU. The failure to spread common citizenship and the spirit of togeth-
erness among all member countries peoples at a desired level, the failure
in establishing a common constitution, the absence of common defense
and foreign policies in particular, although this issue was attempted to be
overcome through the Lisbon Agreement, and the EUs ineffective voice in
global developments all represent indicators of the EUs political failings.
The problems faced by many countries during the economic recession in
2007 and after, and rising anxieties about the common currency represent
the indicators that the Unions economic deepening is underwhelming. In
brief, it can be said that Poland commenced its path to EU membership when
the Union was on the rise, setting sail for the future with great hopes, and
referring to a civilization-development perspective which has been held for
centuries by its people. But after becoming a member of the EU, Poland has
had to continue with a Union that entered a so-called stagnation period, and
had to struggle with many problems, especially those of an economic na-
ture. Within the scope of the mentioned criteria and taking into consideration
such a picture of the EU, we will try to analyze what has changed from the
Polish perspective and what has been gained or lost after the country became
an EU member.
emerged in 2007 and persisted for some time afterward, prevented a normal
progression of events and blocked the comprehensive understanding of real
impacts of the EU membership on the countrys economic performance. For
this reason, it is necessary to consider this fact while analyzing the economic
impacts of Polands membership.
Although the annual growth rate, which reached 6-7% between 1995 and
1997 because of the positive progression of its path to EU membership, later
slowed, as seen in Table 1, the growth continued after EU membership even
during the crisis period between 2007 and 2009. The annual growth rate has
consistently hovered above the Union average. Albeit the GDP per capita
according to purchasing power parity in 2012 was 66 in Poland while it was
100 for the EU27, Poland managed to reach this level from 48 in 20041, and
succeeded despite the massive crisis in the global economic system.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Poland 3.9 5.3 3.6 6.2 6.8 5.1 1.6 3.9 4.5 1.9 1.1(est.)
EU-28 1.5 2.6 2.2 3.4 3.2 0.4 -4.5 2.0 1.6 -0.4
The negative effects of the global economic crisis, which showed its
first effects in mid-2007 on the EU, was significantly high. While the GDP
growth of the EU was measured at 0.4% in 2008, the 4.5% decrease in 2009
brought the biggest recession since the Great Depression in 1930. The eco-
nomic crisis continued to have strong effects in the following years, and
threw light on the structural problems of the Union and the Euro Zone while
also leaving individual countries in difficult situations. During the crisis,
within the borders of the Union, there has been only one country that has
come to the fore with its successful economic performance; that country is
Poland. As a result of Polands receipt of support before achieving full EU
membership, in addition to the EUs financial support and increased foreign
investment after becoming a member, the 2004-2008 period was a lustrous
era for the Polish economy. In this same period, many EU member countries
have shown similar successful performances, not only Poland. But the dif-
ference between Poland and these other members, even those in the west of
the EU, is that Poland continued to grow in the following years despite the
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 125
crisis. For example; in 2009 the rates of economic shrinkage were 6.8% for
Hungary, 4.5% for the Czech Republic, and 14.1% for Estonia. Poland was
one of a few EU countries that succeeded in growing more than 3% in 2010.
Of course, the economic crisis has slowed down the steady growth of
Poland, interrupted the positive dynamism brought by EU membership, and
led to some problems. For example; while the total number of active compa-
nies in the country increased by 3.6% between 2004 and 2007, this number
fell by almost 3% between 2008 and 2010 due to nearly 115,000 companies
closing their doors, most of them being micro and small-scale companies.2
The unemployment rate, which decreased by 12 points to 7% between 2004
and 2008, then began to rise, and exceeded the 10% mark in 2012.3 Nev-
ertheless, it should be said that Poland stood strong against the economic
crisis, and it came to the fore with its generally positive performance within
the EU. There were likely to be some internal factors for this: high domestic
demand, remarkable public expenses and close relationship with the Ger-
man economy, the biggest one in the EU. However, more importantly, some
external factors that have made important contributions to this situation have
been the advantages arising from EU membership and the fact that the coun-
try stayed out of the Euro Zone. The unperformed transition to the euro
that is bound to a common mechanism of the Union, and the Polish zlotys
ability to adapt to present conditions have increased export and decreased
import in the crisis period. Staying out of the Euro Zone has also allowed
the government to employ the monetary policy instruments such as regulat-
ing the money supply, interest rates, and exchange rate in harmony with the
countrys economic requirements.4 Although pro-EU governments were in
power during the crisis period in general, the continuous delay of transition
to the euro was a result of the efforts to protect this type of flexibility. Not
only the government officials, but also the Polish public seemed to be eager
to transition to the euro. This support of the euro, which they used to want
to see as their currency, has decreased over the years. While 64% of the na-
tion wanted the euro to replace the zloty in 2002, after membership this rate
decreased to 47% in November 2008 and to 32% in March 2011.5
Aside from the fact that Poland didnt participate in one of the most im-
portant common fields of the EU, profits made from the achievements of
integration crucially contributed to Polands ability to weather the crisis. The
main one of those achievements is the financial support that flowed from the
EU budget to Poland through structural funds. Poland is the country which
receives the highest portion of the EU budget. As seen in Table 2, the net to-
tal amount of this support exceeded 50 billion euro by April 2013. This sup-
port, which has been distributed to various sectors had an important effect
on the infrastructural development of the country, while it also obviously
contributed to the national GDP (for example, EU support amounting to 7.7
billion euro constituted 2% of the countrys GDP in 2010).6
Transfers
61.325 15.439 2.490 79.255
from EU
Contribution
-22.889 -3.568 -1.721 -28.180
to EU
Repayments to
-138 -1.63 -0.94 -141.47
EU
Source: Social and Economic Impact of Polands Membership of the European Union, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, 1 May 2004 -1 May 2013, p. 9.
Not only the EU financial support, but also money sent back to Poland
by hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens that went abroad to work and
the foreign capital inflows increased due to Polands EU membership. These
may be counted among advantages of the integration process. From the sec-
ond quarter of 2004 to the end of 2012, the total amount of migrant remit-
tances sent from within other EU countries exceeded 32 billion euros, this
equates to almost 86% of total migrant remittances.7 In parallel with labor
migration within countries of the EU, the amount of migrant remittances
6 The Social and Economic Impact of Polands Membership of the European Union,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1 January 2012, (http://www.msz.gov.pl/resource/ef-
4215fc-25d9-4317-8b60-62d0e6467a3e:JCR), p. 5.
7 Social and Economic Impact of Polands Membership of the European Union 1
May 2004 -1 May 2013, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, September 2013, (http://www.
msz.gov.pl/resource/1f6677e7-cc34-45ab-9587-446ca4f33428:JCR), p. 11.
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 127
12 Jerzy Baski & Wojciech Janicki, The Influence of the EUs Eastern Frontier on the
Socio-economic Situation of Border Areas, European Urban and Regional Studies,
Vol. 20,No. 3, 2013, pp. 299-313; Mirela Xheneti, David Smallbone & Friederike
Welter, EU Enlargement Effects on Cross-border Informal Entrepreneurial Activi-
ties, European Urban and Regional Studies, Vol. 20,No. 3, 2013, pp. 314-328.
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 129
from the country to the EU15 geography that started even before attaining
membership increased exponentially after May 2004. In fact, according to
data from 2007, the largest share of working-age persons involved in intra-
EU migration during the last 4 years belongs to the Polish population at
26%. Following the Poles, the rate of Romanians was 19%, and the shares of
all other countries populations were lower than 10%. In this situation, it can
be said that one out of every four persons migrating to other EU countries
every couple of years after 2005 is a Polish citizen. However, this rate was
much higher in countries that received higher amounts of migrants; 49%
of people migrating to England, 46% of people migrating to Ireland, and
32% of people migrating to Germany were Polish citizens.13 According to
this statistical information of the EU Commission, which doesnt include
unregistered, seasonal, or other employees, almost 1 million Polish work-
ers had taken part in intra-EU migration from the beginning of membership
up until 2007. When temporary jobs are included, according to the Polish
Central Statistical Office data, this amount jumps to 1.5 million; and the
total number of migrants is 2.3 million (which equals the total population of
the country).14 This steady increase in migration started to decrease in 2007-
2008, and then a reverse migration trend emerged. The discrepancies be-
tween data sources and evaluations prevent the acquirement of accurate in-
formation on exact migration values. Nevertheless, the data clearly presents
the large proportion of Polish people involved in intra-EU migration. While
Poland has 1.6 million of its people spread throughout other EU countries,
thus constituting the 4th largest foreigner group according to Eurostats 2011
calculations,15 according to Polands official calculations, the total number
of people that immigrated to EU countries at the beginning of 2012 was
higher than 2 million.16
These migrations have had important social and economic effects on
Poland. While it was even mentioned in the 1990s that the country could
face extensive emigration issues, in the post-2004 period, when a close fam-
ily member of nearly one out of every three Polish people has emigrated
to another EU country, the concerns of brain drain and Euro-orphans
(the children of people trying to emigrate to other EU countries) have trans-
formed into a national hysteria.17 The details that escalated these concerns
were that most Polish migrants were male (50% more than females), highly
or medium-skilled, and young (20-29 years old).18 In combination with the
declining birth rate, emigration has become a significant pressure on the
countrys population. The increase of working-age emigration in such a
short amount of time was a factor which contributed to the fall in Polands
GDP. According to a calculation, this loss will affect a 1% GDP decrease by
2015, while occurring at 0.2% in the short term.19
Polish people have become one of the groups that show the highest de-
gree of adaptability to the EU countries where they have immigrated. Never-
theless, the strain between migrants and local peoples in receiving countries
has frequently led to social and cultural tensions. Aside from this, since 2004
a synchronous reverse migration trend emerged due to various familial, so-
cial, emotional, and economic push-and-pull factors while outward migra-
tion continued.20 The rapid emergence of economic development in Poland
can be considered as the most important pull-factor encouraging the return
of Poles to Poland in the first years. This can be seen in the total number
of returnees from 2004 to 2008, which reached 580,000. 213,000 of these
returns occurred in 2007 when economic growth peaked.21 Also, in the years
of the economic crisis, migrants have returned to their home country because
of increasing tension and problems that stemmed from limited employment
opportunities. It is necessary to mention that the returnees returning during
and after the crisis, especially the low-skilled returnees, had difficulties in
finding new jobs, and this situation led to new problems. The highly-skilled
returnees, however, were better able to reorient themselves to business life
by finding job easier.22 Finally, research shows that the Polish people, espe-
cially those who have had previous experience abroad, will continue their
circulation in Europe in the coming years depending on economic develop-
ments both in Poland and other EU countries.23
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 131
These views witnessed in the early years of membership have been re-
placed by more moderate and constructive approaches. Besides being in-
fluenced by the economic development resultant of EU membership, this
change has also been affected by Polands successful performance during
the economic crisis and the proactive role it has come to play in economic
decisions. Because of its economic performance during the crisis, Poland
was able raise its voice and finds itself at the fore of fighting for the inclusion
of countries which hadnt yet started to use the euro. This can be seen in the
countrys mission to strengthen the fiscal structures of the Euro Zone coun-
tries in the Euro Plus Pact that was released in early 2011.26 Also, Poland
provided financial support to countries affected by the crisis such as Latvia,
Iceland, and Moldova. In fact, the power of Poland to have an impact on
both economic and other issues belongs to its constructive diplomatic suc-
cess in eliminating disputes between Germany, France, and the UK.27
Besides these roles played due to the economic crisis, the duties Poland
has assumed in small- and large-scale institutions of the Union have pro-
vided its institutions and officers experience and skills in developing and
implementing multi-dimensional approaches. Additionally, besides the
Europe-level tasks, Polands position as a local coordinator in some edu-
cational programs of the EU in Central Asia and its active participation in
providing humanitarian support and social development programs further
enhanced the perspectives of its institutions and officers, leading them to
specialize and play more effective roles in the EU. This mentioned dyna-
mism and improvement is not only valid for government institutions and of-
ficers but also for the non-governmental organizations in the country, which
have improved their contacts with counterparts in other EU countries and
become more active.
During their EU Council Presidency in the second half of 2011, the gen-
erally successful image of Poland as a country which eliminated its inexpe-
rience and incompatibility indicated that it had transformed into a player
disposed to take its responsibilities in the center of the EU rather than being
under effects of the Atlanticist tendencies.28 By taking responsibility of 500
million EU citizens and proving its ability to think at the continental level, as
Foreign Affairs Minister Sikorski mentioned, the presidency has become the
indicator that Polish people have achieved their historical desire to become
26 The Social and Economic Impact of Polands Membership of the European Union:
1 May 2004 -1 May 2013, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2013, p. 2.
27 Roderick Parkes, How Poland Came To Be A Major EU Power, 31 May 2013,
(http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=51958).
28 Karolina Pomorska & Sophie Vanhoonacker, Poland in the Driving Seat: A Mature
Presidency in Turbulent Times, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 50, An-
nual Review, 2012, p. 83.
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 133
29 Gideon Rose, The Polish Model-A Conversation with Radek Sikorski, Foreign
Affairs, Vol. 92, No. 3, 2013, pp. 1-8.
30 Clara Marina ODonnell, Polands U-turn on European Defence: A Missed Oppor-
tunity?, Policy Brief, (London: Centre for European Reform, 2012).
31 Tsveta Petrova, How Poland Promotes Democracy, Journal of Democracy, Vol.
23, No. 2, 2012, pp. 133-147.
32 Roderick Parkes, How Poland Came to be a Major EU Power, 31 May 2013, (http://
carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/?fa=51958).
33 Jurgen Hofrichter & Inge Weller, A Report Prepared upon Central and Eastern Eu-
robarometer-1990, (Brussels: Commission of the European Community, 1991).
34 CBOS, Report 36/2001: Opinions About Integration with European Union, (War-
saw: CBOS, 2001).
35 Aleks Szczerbiak, Polish Public Opinion: Explaining Declining Support for EU
Membership, Journal of Common Market Studies, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2001, pp. 105-
122.
36 European Commission, Standart Eurobarometer 63, September 2005, (http://
ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/ archives/eb/eb63/eb63_en.pdf), P. 94.
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 135
Conclusion
As mentioned before, it doesnt seem to be possible to evaluate the exact
impacts of the EU membership on Poland since 2004 because of the very
important occurrence of the global economic crisis in the same period. In
fact, the EU membership has contributed to Poland significantly in terms of
its economy, and also led to improvements in the country, both with regard
to its infrastructure and increase in revenue. With the pushing effect of these
improvements, Poland has tried to take on a larger role in the political arena
of the EU and to assert its strong European country status which it has
long dreamt of and accepted as a historical right. This effort, which took on
a more aggressive and oppositional character during the first years of mem-
bership, has continued in a more constructive and balanced way through the
obtainment of managerial and political experience. Considering all of these
factors, it can be said that more than nine years of membership has been
useful for Poland.
However, it is clear that coinciding internal and external conditions con-
tributing to economic growth will not continue as it did in the past. First
of all, it can be said that the strategy of staying out of the Euro Zone is not
sustainable in the long term and Poland wont be able to act as flexibly in
economic decisions as it had before. If Poland were to insist on this strategy,
it would remain outside of the deepening progress of the EU, and its aim to
be an effective player in the EU would be interrupted.39
39 Witold M.Orowski, Poland Has Survived the Economic Crisis Remarkably Well,
but the Country Faces a Future Dilemma Over Adopting the Euro, 25 September
2012, (http://bit.ly/RFfgR7).
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 137
REFERENCES
U S A K Ye a r b o o k 2 0 1 3 139