Disinfo: Poland has lost 130 billion euros from its membership in the EU throughout 16 years

Summary

Poland contributed 58 billion euros to the EU budget and received from this budget 181 billion euros. Although, if we add to this calculation obvious costs coming from EU membership, this balance becomes extremely unfavourable – 310 billion euros in total costs and 181 billion euros in profits in the form of EU funds. It means that Poland lost almost EUR 130 billion euros throughout 16 years of its membership in the EU.

Disproof

This narrative is focused on the spread of disinformation on the allegedly unbeneficial EU membership for countries of Eastern and Central Europe.

The calculations of “obvious costs” coming from EU membership presented in this article (lost profits from labour migration; use of Polish assets by Western “capital”; rapture of economic ties with Russia) are not shared by reputable economists.

There is no doubt among economists and international research centres that EU membership has been extremely beneficial for Poland in all aspects, in particular, the economy, finances and investments. After its EU accession, Poland started to be perceived as an economic success story.

During the last two decades, Poland has become one of the most dynamic economies in Europe. It enjoys uninterrupted economic growth since the early 1990s, with average GDP growth of 4.2% a year, doubling its GDP between 1990 and 2015. This growth allowed Poland to narrow the economic gap with the most developed EU countries – the Polish GDP (at PPP) has increased from 32% to 60% of the Western European average (EU-15). Read more about how the EU membership helped Poland to transform its economy here.

See similar cases – Poland is a country with the highest social inequality in the EU and the current socio-economic situation of Poland is worse than in communist times.

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publication/media

pl.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 224
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 11/12/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Polish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, Poland
  • Keywords: EU budget, Euro-scepticism, migration, economy, Eastern Europe, Economic difficulties, Conspiracy theory
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Dec 10, 2020
Disproof

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Dec 10, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Crimea willingly joining Russia and portraying the war in Donbas as an internal armed conflict.

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Dec 10, 2020
Disproof

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