Publications

Judged on the basis of public opinion polls, Poland is a country of Euro-enthusiasts. However, judged on the basis of the results of this year’s elections to the European Parliament – it is a land of Eurosceptics. According to CBOS surveys, Poland’s membership in the European Union in March 2014 was supported by 89% of Poles. On the other hand, the Eurosceptic parties (including Kongres Nowej Prawicy [the Congress of the New Right]) won almost half of the seats assigned to Poland in these elections.There are more such paradoxical situations in the Polish European debate. Western European Eurosceptics may be surprised by the fact that Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice), which often emphasises that European integration has gone too far, at the same time supports the creation of a European army and the quick accession of Ukraine into the EU. The same situation is similar as far as the internal market is concerned; while in the West the questioning of the internal market’s very principles, and especially of the opening of the labour markets to the citizens of the “new” EU member states, is the main element of the Eurosceptics’ campaign, Polish Eurosceptics are the advocates of the internal market, in particular, the free movement of people.