Thinking Anew about Poland
Change and Its Causes
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Poland’s new government aims to change the country’s constitutional, institutional, political, and economic status. From this, a quarrel with the European Union has emerged. In essence, it concerns the limits of the political sovereignty of a member state, something the EU accepts. But the entire EU system is under pressure to change. This is expressed in the bundle of crises comprised of the euro crisis, the Ukraine crisis, and the refugee crisis, which all lay bare the Union’s deficiencies when it comes to action. Poland and Hungary are ending the phase of post-communist transformation and looking for a way out of “the trap of dependent growth”. They are striving for a more self-sufficient socio-economic model and adjusting the legal and political framework, not without making mistakes. This complicates their relations with the EU. The Law and Justice party sees Poland’s future in the EU as closer to London’s side than to Berlin’s side.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2016, pp. 191–200)