Poles, who used to love the United States for many decades, seem to have cooled off these days. Once a promised land, America is losing its attraction in confrontation with the European Union.
Krystyna Kolosowska reports
Recent years have seen popularity ratings of the United States among Poles plunge by over twenty percentage points. The change was observed already in 2007. A survey conducted by CBOS, one of the biggest public opinion research centers here, revealed that the rate of positive opinions about the US fell to 38 percent, compared with 62 percent in 2006.
The image of America – once a dreamland – has changed in the eyes of ordinary Poles and the reasons for that a many.
‘I think the United States should abolish visas for Polish people, definitely. The second, I think Europe is more open right now for Polish people and more comfortable to get to, to find a very good job with insurance, they can go back and forth more often and the Polish people are more welcome in Europe.’
‘Generally, I like America but I think that after our help in Iraq they should give us aid for the modernisation of the Polish army and they should abolish visas for Poland.’
Michal Wenzel from CBOS says that the waning enthusiasm with which Poles are looking at the US can be attributed largely to the disappointment over the intervention in Iraq, in which Poland took part alongside the American army:
‘The perception of the US and its allies as a positive force in Iraq has worsened and also the benefits from the Iraq war have not appeared. We had great expectations and they were not fulfilled. We blamed the United States for this and this translated into the worsening of the image of the US in Poland.’
Professor Zbigniew Lewicki, American studies expert, says the disillusionment with the United States is natural – it is something that other European countries experienced before. Poland has been catching up with them since it embraced democracy after the fall of the communist system in 1989:
‘After 1989-90 Americans were helpful but they began to enforce in one way or another their own requirements, starting with copyright law, which made piracy illegal and then with some other concepts that some people found oppressive and began to generalize it on the entire nation. I think it’s almost healthy. You cannot be fascinated with another nation for too long. At the same time you only make judgments about nations or people that are close to you.’
The fact that the US continues to maintain visa requirements for Poles is seen as a painful problem by many here. Professor Lewicki is convinced that visas will be lifted now that we observe a genuine revolution in the attitude of ordinary Polish citizens to America, caused by Poland’s entry into the European Union in May 2004:
‘If they want to work abroad now people go to England, Ireland, soon enough they will be able to go to Germany, they go to France. Its cheaper, its closer, euro is stronger than the dollar. Things are changing. We no longer think of America as the only place where we can make more money than at home. Very soon, even that’s happening now, we’ll be making more money at home, without going abroad, so this special aspect of the US as a place where you can really make money is disappearing fast and we are becoming a normal country interacting with another normal country like the United States.’
Poles have long been the greatest fans of the United States. This has changed these days but they still remain friendlier towards America than the West European countries.