Poland

Poland’s booming economy attracted thousands of Ukrainian workers, who struggle to integrate amid xenophobia and fear.

The European elections held on 26th May 2019 confirmed what was feared: The national-conservative party Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice, PiS) won by a clear majority. What are the reasons behind this election result and how has the political mood in the country changed?

The figures speak for themselves: 15 years after joining the European community, 91 percent of Poles support EU membership, with only five percent against. According to 78 percent of those surveyed, the consequences are overwhelmingly positive. Moreover, 56 percent feel they are Europeans, an increase of around 13 percent compared to 2014.

We invite you to read the new texts published as part of the German-Polish European Blog. In the In the current edition we present the Polish and German perspective on relations with  Western Balkans.

In the name of effectiveness, democracy and reforms, the Polish government pushes with radical measures to take control over the juidiciary power and slowly loses popular support. 

The Visegrad countries' reluctance to accept European wide refugee quotas led to harsh criticism but little effort has been made to understand its causes

Over the last weeks Poland has witnessed an unprecedented mobilisation of women against the tightening of the abortion law. Our colleague Gert Röhrborn from our Warsaw office sheds light on recent events.

With Britain leaving the EU Poland is loosing one of its most important security policy ally. At the same time up to a million polish migrants in Britain are facing an uncertain future as they were already being used as scapegoats in the Brexit campaign.

What are strategic expectations of Member States to be addressed during the forthcoming Summit in Warsaw? Which major challenges will it face? What marks the Polish position vis-a-vis NATO and EU issues? Analysis by former Polish diplomat Piotr Łukasiewicz.

Democracy is a system in which political parties lose elections, stated Adam Przeworski. After all, what matters is who failed and why. When analysing the structure of party supporters and the shifts in their preferences, parliamentary elections 2015 can be seen as a reversal of several trends.