Summary
Herman W. Hoen
Nog is de Unie niet verloren: de toetreding van Polen tot de Europese Unie
Herman W. Hoen addresses Poland's entry into the European Union and argues that perceptions within the EU member states have been highly volatile with respect to this postcommunist country. Whereas in the beginning of the 1990s Poland was perceived as strong-minded in its transformation strategy, shortly before the accession in May 2004 the label attached had completely changed. Due to lack of momentum in institutional reforms, Poland's membership of the Union was considered more problematic than that of most of the other postcommunist countries. Therefore, ‘appropriate' measures were taken by various of the 'old' EU member states. The author underlines that the actual threats were negligible and, to the extent that they were not, the measures taken will be counterproductive. The openly acknowledged problems of enlargement are indispensably linked to the organisation of the Union and are not exclusively stemming from Polish reform failures. However unfortunate Poland's current attempts at restructuring the economy may be, by rephrasing the .rst line of the Polish national anthem it is concluded that 'the EU is alive, as long as we live'.