Support for the EU reaches historic high in Poland

Warsaw, Poland – As Poland prepares to take part in the European elections in May on the 15th anniversary of its accession to the bloc, support for the EU among the population has reached an all-time high.

Pro-EU sentiment among the Polish population has reached an unprecedented level since 2004: according to a CBOS poll (in Polish), 91% of respondents support Poland’s EU membership, compared to only 5% who oppose it and 4% who remain undecided on the issue.

Regardless of the social-demographic groups, support for the EU in Poland never drops below 80%, according to the survey. The same thing goes for political preferences: while supporters of the opposition Civic Platform are the most pro-Europeans (98%), supporters of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) are also largely in favour of Poland’s EU membership (90%).

Economic development, EU funds and the freedom of movement are cited as the main benefits of the EU by Polish respondents, with 85% of Poles stating that the European Union had a positive impact on the Polish economy.

For the first time since CBOS started to conduct this poll, a majority of Poles (56%) identifies as both Polish and European (20 percentage points higher than six years ago). Simultaneously, just a minority of the population identify as only Polish (44%), a strong decrease compared to previous years (60% in 2013).

The results of this survey confirm the findings of a recent Pew Research Centre study, that identified Poland as one of the most pro-European nations throughout the bloc, in stark contrast with some of its notoriously Eurosceptic Central European neighbours.