Most supporters of Polish ruling party think EU acts like Soviet Union: poll

A majority of supporters of Poland’s ruling party believe that the European Union acts like the Soviet Union, finds a new poll. Another survey shows that they think western countries benefit more from Polish membership of the EU than Poland itself does.

With the Polish government, alongside Hungary’s, blocking progress of the European Union budget and coronavirus recovery fund, there has been renewed discussion in Poland of the country’s relationship with the EU.

Polling consistently indicate that very few Poles – well under 10% – want their country to leave the EU completely. However, two new polls demonstrate that certain Eurosceptic attitudes are widespread, especially among supporters of the ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.

A survey by Social Changes for the wPolityce news website asked: “Who benefits more from Poland’s membership of the EU?” Among all respondents, 26% believed that western firms and western countries benefit more, 24% that Polish firms and Poland do, while 50% thought that the benefits are shared equally.

Among PiS votes, however, the most common view (held by 43%) was that western firms and countries benefit the most. Only 19% thought that Polish firms and Poland benefit more from EU membership.

Another poll, by Ipsos for news website OKO.press, found that 34% of Poles favour limiting cooperation within the EU to only economic issues and want greater independence for member states. Among PiS voters, that figure rose to 59%.

The pollster also asked: “Does the EU treat member states like the USSR treated countries subordinate to it during communism?” Among all respondents, 32% agreed that it does. But for PiS voters, the figure was 64%.

The views expressed by PiS supporters in the surveys reflect rhetoric used by the ruling party during its current conflict over the EU budget, which the Polish government has rejected due to the inclusion of a mechanism linking funds to the rule of law.

During a speech in parliament last month, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki declared that “the rule of law has become a propaganda bludgeon in the EU” and “we [Poles] know the use of propaganda bludgeons very well from communist times”.

In an interview with a German newspaper this month, Morawiecki suggested that the EU was developing towards a “Soviet system” of “fictional independence and equal rights for ‘partner countries’” that masks “dependence, exploitation and neo-colonialism”.

Meanwhile, figures from the ruling camp – as well as state broadcaster TVP, which is used as a mouthpiece by the government – have openly suggested that Poland loses more money than it gains from EU membership.

They argue that, while Poland is the biggest net recipient of EU funds, the profits extracted from the country by western companies outweigh these benefits.

The justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, said last month that, “every year rich EU countries siphon from Poland much, much more money than we obtain as part of EU subsidies”.

Janusz Kowalski, a deputy minister for state assets, published a graphic purporting to show that more capital is transferred out of Poland to other EU member states than the country receives from the EU budget.

Many commentators have pointed out that such claims are highly misleading. Economists who spoke to factchecking website Konkret24 note that one cannot simply draw a direct balance between incoming EU subsidies and outgoing private firms’ profits, as they are two completely different things.

Moreover, looking only at the profits such firms take out of Poland ignores the value that they bring through investment, job creation, tax revenues, infrastructure, knowledge transfer and other benefits.

“We are dealing with an openly anti-EU campaign, which aims to make Poles detest the EU,” wrote opposition politician Danuta Huebner, a former European Commissioner, in response to Kowalski’s tweet.

Main image credit: Lukasz Krajewski / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.