Would Poles be happier without EU? One village now answers no.

The inhabitants of the Polish village of Godziszów in southeast Poland might have once been receptive to the idea of their country going its own way, outside the European Union.

Not that the idea of a Polish exit, or “Polexit,” from the bloc is something that most people in the country publicly claim to want. The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) has officially stated that it doesn’t desire to leave the EU.

But the right-wing, conservative party’s relationship with Brussels since it came to power in 2015 has been largely antagonistic. As PiS has consolidated its power and remade Poland’s judicial system, the EU has criticized the party of violating European law. It has both brought legal action against Poland and threatened to cut off European funds to Poland in response.

Religious and patriotic, Godziszów is a natural bastion for PiS. And this rural village and its surrounding commune of 5,700 voted overwhelmingly against joining the EU in 2003. But while some residents still express concern that the EU may be undermining Christian values, most today have a clear sense that Polish values and interests align more strongly with the West rather than with the East – especially amid tensions between NATO and Russia, once a Polish occupier.

And their attitudes show why a Polexit is such a remote possibility.

“I voted against joining the EU,” recalls Aleksander Zdybel, the oldest local councilor, who gave his son a 26-acre farm in 2003 that prospered with the help of EU funding. “Today I would vote for it. Times have changed; we wouldn’t manage alone.”

“It would be harder for us without EU support”

The roads of Godziszów are in constant need of repair. They can’t cope with the high summer traffic of big tractors and heavy machinery that farmers bought tapping into EU agricultural subsidies.

Godziszów Mayor Józef Zbytniewski of PiS notes that EU funds cover around half the commune’s budget – with about $10 million spent in recent years – and that there is fierce competition among village elders to get projects off the ground. EU money revitalized the local library and cultural center, spread the use of solar collectors and environmentally friendly heating stoves, and helped repair the roads shredded by the machinery.

“The model of agriculture in Poland is changing,” explained Mr. Zbytniewski on a dreary December day that left the surrounding fields blanketed in snow. “There are fewer farmers, so there is more acreage to work on and more mechanical work. They seek funds from the EU and see the benefit.”

EU funds have played a major role in the development of rural areas in Poland. Among direct beneficiaries, Polish farmers represent the largest group, at about 1.3 million people. Council member Maria Ciupak, for example, has been able to grow her farm from 25 to 75 acres, and leases 75 more with the help of such funds.

“The people from Godziszów have found their place in the EU – they know how to utilize EU funds and how to fight for subsidies,” says Ms. Ciupak, who combines farming with teaching and her council duties. “It would be harder for us without EU support.”

Mirosław Gąska, headmaster of the Godziszów Elementary School, still remembers how when he started at the school in 1998, the corridors of the Soviet-era building would fill with water after heavy rains. The windows were so fragile that the glass would shatter when students bounced a ball on the gym floor. EU funds permitted several upgrades including a new playground, better toilets, and modern teaching aids. That fact is not lost on students, who cite access to EU funds as the main perk of membership in that club of nations.

It isn’t difficult to see the development Poland has had since joining the EU, says Mr. Gąska, a local anomaly for casting a pro-EU membership vote nearly two decades ago. “Everything in this world has its imperfections, but on balance Polish presence in the EU is a positive.”

The tangible benefits of EU membership in this rural community are clear. So is the strength of its Christian conservative values, with crucifixes ubiquitously adorning public and private spaces alike.

Godziszów voted overwhelmingly (88%) against membership in the bloc in 2003. With the benefit of hindsight, elders in the town attribute that result to a fear of the unknown; worries that strong Roman Catholic traditions would give way to secularism or, even worse, outright atheism; and concerns that Poland would not be dealt with as an equal among European nations. Farmers were also afraid of losing the land to wealthy European buyers. 

By and large, those worries proved unwarranted. Capitalist and secularist outsiders never arrived in the commune. Still, says Mayor Zbytniewski, “maybe these old fears have not come true, but new ones have arisen.”

“If we were alone it could be worse”

Those new fears have manifested as PiS and its conservative supporters clash with the EU, on issues ranging from LGBTQ rights to the rule of law.

The Polish constitutional court in October ruled that national law supersedes EU treaties, a move that threatened the very essence of the union. It rattled Brussels enough to withhold €24 billion ($27 billion) in grants from the bloc’s COVID-19 recovery funds and raised questions over the ruling party’s commitment to membership in the EU.

Despite all the tussles with Brussels, the top brass of the Law and Justice party wants to remain in the bloc, according to Rafał Chwedoruk, political scientist at the University of Warsaw. “There is no indication that the leadership of PiS, [party co-founder and leader Jarosław] Kaczyński and his closest circle, want to leave the European Union,” he says, although they are against deepening integration.

If Godziszów is any indication, there is just as little interest among PiS supporters in leaving the EU.

“I think the majority of residents would also be for the union today,” says Mayor Zbytniewski, “despite the fear that the union is changing, i.e., moving away from Christian values.”

It will be “faster [that] Brussels will throw us out of the EU for not obeying the law than we will leave the EU by ourselves,” says Daniel Król, a young farmer loading sacks of buckwheat onto the back of a truck.

“There are many young farmers in Godziszów and they would not vote for Polexit,” Mr. Król adds. His family owns 200 acres of land, and they have benefited from EU subsidies. “Our country has too many benefits from membership in the EU to give them up by itself.”

Dr. Chwedoruk notes that the idea of Polexit doesn’t hold the same resonance in Poland as Brexit does in Britain, due to historical context – especially Poland’s lack of an equivalent to the British Empire. “There was never a strong political stream that said Poland’s place was outside the Western world,” he says. “It cannot exist alone in international space.”

That may be reflected in the thinking of Jan Golec, a middle-aged farmer growing raspberries and cereal in Godziszów. He notes that Poland is benefiting from improved living standards and job creation, as well as access to the labor markets of the EU. But he decries Poland’s loss of sovereignty as Brussels “dictates” to Warsaw.

Still, he says, staying in the EU might be the best choice available to Poland.

“Let me put it this way.” he says. “A chained dog has to obey its master, but it has a warm kennel, food, etc. On the one hand, his life is bad because he is subordinated, but on the other hand, he has everything he needs. If he was free, he would have to look after himself. For sure, if I had to choose today between the West or Russia, I would choose the West without hesitation. We are not a rich enough country to do what we want.”

“Strength is in a group; if we were alone it could be worse,” he adds. “Russia has not forgotten that this was once its territory.”

Dominique Soguel contributed reporting from Basel, Switzerland.