Poland and Eastern Europe in the European Union

Bellezza, Giuliano

doi:0016-7282

Skip to main menu
Skip to search engine
Skip to content
Skip to footer

Download

Title: Poland and Eastern Europe in the European Union

Abstract:

Pope John Paul II wrote that Poland is “a Republic peacefully including many Nations, many Cultures, many Religions”. Somehow Norman Davies was more critical when he entitled his two volume history as God’s playground: A history of Poland. The Author of this paper feels rather uncertain about these descriptions.Certainly the neighbouring states have been very active in the ‘playground’, but the population has never been invited to play, and, lest we forget, look what happened to the Jewish inhabitants. Only in 1989, a long time after WW2, did East European states gain their full independence, and then their economic backwardness compared with Western Europe suddenly appeared in its full dimension. After years of diplomatic discussions, Poland and seven other East European states could officially join the European Union in 2004. This year was chosen for a first socio-economic comparison between the old and the new members of the EU. It was no surprise at all; the situation in the new members was by far the worst, even when compared with the less wealthy older ones. The second comparison relates to 2007 when the new members entered the Schengen Area, a compulsory clause for new members of the EU. Though remaining strong, differences were slowly decreasing. But a global crisis was beginning, and the crash officially came in September 2008 (with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers). That’s why the 3rd comparison, relative to 2012, gives puzzling results. The economic crisis has, without a doubt, been truly global, and from 2007/2008 to 2012 the figures got worse everywhere. But the impression changes when comparing 2012 to 2004: generally speaking, GDP has gone up in the old members but has been completely nullified by inflation. Not so in the New Member States where people certainly have more money now than they did before accession. In the first years after accession many workers tried to move westbound, but now a good number are coming back. I have dedicated greater importance to Poland, for obvious reasons, and to Italy. These are two countries which are traditionally friendly, and the more so after the election of John Paul II. In conclusion, all in all, accession has been a good choice for the new members, but to progress further stronger cooperation is needed.

References:

1. Amnesty International, 2006. Investigation on migrant deaths. Statistical Yearbook. London: UNHCR.
2. Bellezza G., 1974. La Comunita Economica Europea, profilo geografico. Bari: Adriatica Editrice.
3. Bellezza G., 1978. Geografia. Roma: Editori Riuniti.
4. Bellezza G., 2009. Lampedusa, primo gradino dell’odierna Odissea mediterranea. Ambiente societa territorio: Geografia nelle scuole, vol. 54, no. 3-4, pp. 7-12.
5. CECOL , 2012. Results of the referendum on the Draft Law Amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Latvia. Central Elections Commissions of Latvia.
6. David E., 1993. Facing a holocaust: the Polish government- in-exile and the Jews, 1943–1945. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press Books.
7. Davies N., 2005-2006. God's playground: A history of Poland. In two volumes: Volume 1: The origins to 1795. Volume 2: 1795 to the present. New York: Columbia University Press.
8. Eberhardt P., 2002. Ethnic groups and population changes in twentieth-century Central-Eastern Europe. Armonk: M.E. Sharpe.
9. EU, 2013. Eurostat pocketbooks: European social statistics. Luxembourg: European Union.
10. Feldstein M., 2011. The failure of the Euro. Foreign Affairs, 13 December.
11. Garton Ash T., 2012. The crisis of Europe: How the Union came together and why it’s falling apart. Foreign Affairs, 20 August.
12. Golemo K., Kowalska K., Pittau F., Ricci A. (eds.), 2006. Polonia nuovo paese di frontiera. Da migranti a comunitari. Roma: Caritas Italiana, Centro Studie ricerche-IDOS, pp. 102-111.
13. GUS, 2012. Poland in figures. Warszawa: Główny Urząd Statystyczny.
14. HDI, 2013. The rise of the South: Human progress in a diverse world. Human Development Report, UNDP, http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/HDR/2013GlobalHDR/English/HDR2013%20Report%20English.pdf.[16 April 2014].
15. HRW, 2006. Libya, stemming the flow. Human Rights Watch, vol. 18, no. 5(E), New York.
16. John Paul II , 2004. Memoria e identita. Milano: Rizzoli.
17. Kobrinskaia I., Frumen B., 2014. Nessuno conosce noi Russi meglio dei Polacchi. Limes, 2 January, pp. 139-150.
18. Koch W., 2013. Fracking puts US first in shale gas production. USA Today, 23 October.
19. Kupiszewski M., 2008. Addressing the irregular employment of migrants – concluding remarks and recommendations [in:] M. Kupiszewski, H. Mattila (eds.), Addressing the irregular employment of immigrants in the European Union: Between sanctions and rights. Budapest: International Organization for Migration, pp. 318-328.
20. Limes, 2014. Polonia, I'Europa senza I'Euro. http://temi.repubblica.it/limes/polonia-leuropa-senzaeuro/56457 [15 April 2014].
21. Mackinder H.J., 1904. The geographical pivot of history. Geographical Journal, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 421-437.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1775498 -
22. Mehillaj O., 2009. L’immigrazione albanese in Italia. Profili sociologici e politiche di controllo. L’Altro Diritto.
23. Michnik A., 2013. We are bastards of communism. Der Spiegel, 31 July.
24. Ministero Degli Interni, 2001. Relazione sulla realizzazione degli obiettivi fissati, sui risultati raggiunti e sull’efficacia degli interventi effettuati a sostegno delle Forze di Polizia albanesi(1o luglio-31 dicembre 2000) presentata al Parlamento dal Ministro dell’Interno Bianco nella XIII legislatura. Document 178, no. 1.
25. Ministero Degli Interni, 2007. Rapporti sugli immigrati in Italia. Italia. http://www.interno.gov.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/it/assets/files/15/0673_Rapporto_immigrazione_BARBAGLI.pdf [15 April 2014].
26. Morawski I., 2012. How Poland became a wealthy country. http://temi.repubblica.it/limes/come-lapolonia-e-diventata-ricca/57070 [15 April 2014].
27. Morawski P., 2014. Atlante geopolitico della Polonia. Limes, 10 January.
28. Nobelprize, 2012. The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 to the European Union (EU) - press release. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2012/press.html [30 April 2014].
29. Schwab K., 2012. The re-emergence of Europe. Koeln: World Economic Forum.
30. Sen A., 2012. What happened to Europe. The New Republic, 2 August.
31. Sikorski R., 2011. German inaction scarier than Germans in action. The Economist, 29 November.
32. Sorman G., 2012. Why Europe will rise again. The Wall Street Journal, 17 August.
33. Spinelli A., Ross i E., 2006. Il Manifesto di Ventotene. Milano: Mondadori.
34. Tull S., 2012. Two legends in economics wrestle over the euro’s future. CNN Money-Fortune, 9 August.
35. UNDP, 2011. Development and transition.United Nations Development Programme.
36. UNHCR , 2006. Piano d’azione per la tutela dei diritti nell’ambito dei flussi migratori. Comunicato Stampa, 10 July, www.unhcr.it [15 April 2014].
37. van Elsuwege P., 2004. Russian speaking minorities in Estonia and Latvia: Problems of integration in the threshold of the European Union. European Centre for Minority Issues. Working Paper, 40. Flensburg: ECMI.
38. Violante A., Vitale A., 2010. L’Europa alle frontiere dell’Unione. Milano: Unicopli.
39. Więckowski M., 2008. New international mobility of Poles. Espace, Populations, Societes, 2, pp. 261-270.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/eps.2509 -