Polish EU membership pays off with EUR 61 bln

Poland has received more than EUR 61 bln net over the course of its 10-year membership in the EU, based on the newest data of the Polish Ministry of Finance.

“The amount of money that Poland has gained from EU is comparable to what Western European countries received under the Marshall plan,” said Prof. Witold Orlowski, a head economist at PwC, as cited by a Polish daily, Rzeczpospolita.

As of May 1, 2004 Poland has received a total of EUR 92.4 bln gross in EU funding which equals a quarter of the Polish average yearly GDP.  Simultaneously, Poland has paid EUR 31.4 bln in to the EU budget.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Infrastructure and Development Elbieta Bienkowska, Poland’s membership in the EU is paying off.

“The balance of Polish membership in the EU has been unambiguously positive,” said Bienkowska, as cited by Rzeczpospolita. “Well-invested EU funds have increased competitiveness of our economy, have helped in development of entrepreneurship and created more jobs. Thanks to such good investments the difference between Poland and an average of 27 EU countries in GBP per capita has decreased by 18 percentage points. In 2016 Poland has a chance to achieve a level of about 70 percent of the EU average.”

According to experts, however, EU funds are not the biggest benefit that Poland has gained from its membership in EU. The most important benefits including that Poland have become member of the biggest economic system based on uniform principles which allowed Poland to ensure stable political environment and successfully finish period of social and economic transformation.

Poland is the biggest beneficiary of EU funding so far and this will continue.  Between 2014 and 2020 the country should receive ca. EUR 114.5 bln from the new EU budget. Other top EU funds beneficiaries include Greece, Portugal, Spain and Hungary. Germany, UK, France, Italy and the Netherlands are the largest contributors to the EU budget.