PL in the EU

What a great lecture we had yesterday by Professor Gora! She provided an overview of Poland, the current economics and their position within the EU. Poland has been through quite a lot of economic transition in the past 10-12 years, as they began their process of becoming an active member of the EU. This included a long process of applying and acceptance by the governing body of the EU. Despite this long journey, Poland is still making improvements to ensure they are meeting all the EU's requirements, specifically in the environmental sector. Because of the infrastructure needed to comply with the EU's standards, Poland has been fighting a seemingly uphill battle in compliance. So many factors go into why meeting the environmental standards is so tough. For example, Poland operates mainly on coal for energy, which we know isn't the greenest source of energy. But in order for Poland to switch to natural gas, they would have to rely much more heavily on Russian imports, which as a country, they are hesitant to put themselves in such a dependent situation economically. In addition, large and expensive improvements in infrastructure are needed to ensure Poland is operating at the environmentally acceptable level of the EU. One such area is clean water. In order for Poland to meet clean water standards, their entire piping system needs a facelift. This is an extremely costly and timely endeavor Poland has to take on. The good news for Poland is they still have an additional two years to meet these required standards so the future is looking bright! Poland as a whole is very pro-European and pro-EU. Poland itself receives the majority of the funds from the EU currently, which has helped kickstart many factors within the economy. Although this may alter slightly in the next term, Poland's funding will continue as the EU supports their economic development. 

Overall, I respect Poland's resilient economy and their ability to bounce back from recessions that consumed the majority of Europe. Their commitment to change and improvement is admirable and I strongly believe we will have more exciting stories and achievements to come in the near future from Poland!