The Poles like being EU members

According to a recent survey conducted by the CBOS research institute, 86 percent of Poles are happy to be members of the EU. That's 22 percent more than on Poland's accession three years ago. Sociologist Jacek Kucharczyk comments on the result in conversation with Dominik Uhlig. "We had been so thoroughly frightened by the terrifying scenarios painted by EU opponents that it could only get better after the accession. Instead of shock there was relief... The politicians are now slowly adapting themselves to the voters' stance. The Civic Platform has distanced itself from its 'Nice or death' slogan. The Liberals and the League of Democrats (LiD) are presenting themselves as pro-European parties in their attempts to capture votes. How this is reflected in their party manifestos is quite another issue. The debates on European topics - such as the European constitution - are still rather muted. But even the [right-wing] LPR and Samoobrona only seldom criticise the EU nowadays. They've realised that voters would find this unappealing. Nonetheless, there is still a large gap between the pro-European society and those in power who promise to defend us against Europe."

» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Poland
All available articles from » Jacek Kucharczyk, » Dominik Uhlig

» To the complete press review of Thursday, May 3, 2007