| Last updated at 8:34 AM on 28/01/08 |
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Poland regained its independence in 1918 under the leadership of Jozef Pilsudski. — Photo by Jamie Baker/The Telegram |
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Pole position 
Comparisons to N.L. abound as Poland walks down the aisle with the EU
WARSAW, POLAND
JAMIE BAKER
The Telegram
Sitting in a hotel, high above Belwederska Avenue in the middle of Warsaw, it's hard to imagine this former Eastern Bloc country could have anything in common with Newfoundland and Labrador.
But the truth is, in many ways, the two couldn't be more alike.
From nationalistic social mentalities to economic policy to elements of the past and promises for the future, the parallels are almost surprising.
And the comparison gets even more intriguing now Poland has entered "confederation" with the European Union (EU) - a merger that will see the EU pump between 60 and 80 billion Euros (about $90 billion Cdn to $110 billion Cdn) into the country's infrastructure, environment and innovation funds until 2013.
Despite the coming cash, simmering below the surface in urban areas of Poland is a sense of quasi-nationalistic pride.
As yet, it has not been exploited for political gains in the same sense as it has been in Newfoundland and Labrador in recent years.
Nobody has launched an "anything but the EU" or "blame Brussels" campaign, but Poles are watching the new union with the EU carefully.
Some in the Polish government were against joining the EU - none of them were named Cashin as far as can be discovered - and some fought to have the terms of that union re-negotiated even after it had been put to bed.
Sound familiar?
Polls show, however, that 87 per cent of Polish people like the idea of the EU.
"It's not because we love the EU as much, but because people are not satisfied with what they have at home," says Katarzyna Smyk, deputy director of analyses and strategies for Poland's European integration committee.
"They trust the EU will solve their problems."
Unemployment was at 20 per cent in Poland prior to 2004; last year, the rate was 11.4 per cent - still the highest in the EU, but greatly improved.
Asked what can be done to further improve the employment situation, Smyk hits a familiar chord.
"We are losing our best and brightest among the young people; the labour market here could not offer them something interesting," she says.
Unlike Newfoundland and Labador, Poland has a concentrated, identified effort to tackle the problem.
Smyk says there is a "come back home" campaign with incentives for people to return to Poland, such as tax breaks, and providing help to find jobs.
"It's very difficult to force people to come back," she says, but suggests it is "important to do something" now before things really get out of hand.
Whether it's working is not clear - but after 10 years of having a negative birth-to-death rate, last year, Poland reversed the trend.
As for lobbying foreigners to come and work in Poland, Marek Taber of the European Committee of the Council of Ministers, says it hasn't been discussed.
About 7,000 people come to Poland annually, but they usually are just passing through from east to west.
"Unemployment levels makes the discussion of attracting others unpopular politically (in Poland)," Taber says.
Like Newfoundlanders, Poles feel they have been oppressed by those who have held control over them.
In their case, it's absolutely undeniable.
Identified for their pride and hard-work attitude, Polish people are the global model of perseverance. They survived Czech occupation and the invasion of the Swedish Army in the last few hundred years. They regained independence in 1918 after 123 years of being off the map completely.
And what other country could have gone through the horrors of Nazi occupation during the war and subsequent communist rule at the hands of the old Soviet Union, and still come out the other side growing as a global player in every conceivable sense?
Today, the most recognizable building in Warsaw - a city that was more than 80 per cent destroyed during the Second World War - used to be called the Stalin Building but is now the Palace of Culture and Science. The huge Russian embassy makes Confederation Building look like a bachelor pad, but Russian influence has waned considerably. What was once a German Gestapo headquarters now houses the department of education.
Most Poles speak English as an obligatory second language, as opposed to Russian or German.
There are McDonalds restaurants - apparently using McCain french fries - on nearly every corner and the retail market is growing alongside the tourism industry.
Poland and Ukraine will co-host the UEFA Euro soccer championship in 2012, which means new infrastructure like roads and, yes, stadiums.
There are lingering signs of the past from the reminders of war and oppression, to mothballed factories and industrial sites.
And the government is still a little over-anxious in its desire to control many economic factors.
But the war is over, the Iron Curtain is down. Wounds are healing, attitudes are changing and Poland is getting on with getting on. The common theme is that it is now Poland's "turn."
Wages are going up, industry is growing. Real estate prices have doubled in the last two years and, with the money flowing in from Brussels, it is believed that what is now a bit of a Polish kitten might grow to out-scratch the best days of Ireland's "Celtic Tiger."
If that is to happen, Grzegorz Gawin, deputy director of foreign economic policy for Poland says there is some work to do.
"We are heavily concentrated on European partners, which is dangerous," Gawin says of the trade situation. "With Canada we see potential, but right now there is more interest in Asia and Africa. Many companies are not strong enough or mature enough to go to far distant markets yet."
Power, also, is a key component for Poland, although creating power for export is not on the table.
On the 300-plus-kilometre drive from Warsaw to Krakow in the south, the air is permeated by the dust and smoke from the coal-produced power on which Poland is almost completely reliant - 94 per cent reliant, to be exact.
In fact, about 94 per cent of Poland's power comes from coal.
"In the next 18 to 20 years, another 20,000 megawatts will be needed, and most of the power plants in Poland are already more than 30 years old," said Wojciech Ksiazkiewicz, the vice-president of development with SNC Lavalin in Warsaw.
Wind and water are not in ready abundance in war power, and it seems many Poles aren't too crazy about nuclear energy.
The Chernobyl disaster seems to have turned them from the idea.
"A poll says 62 per cent of (Polish) public say nuclear power is okay - ask those people, and they will say, 'as long as it not near my town,'" Ksiazkiewicz said, indicating much of the focus right now is on lignite, or brown coal, as it is commonly called.
While not environmentally friendly or particularly efficient, it's much easier to get at than coal.
And, seemingly like running rivers in Labrador, there's lots of it.
jbaker@thetelegram.com
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