Poll: Poles overwhelmingly support their country's EU membership

Poles overwhelmingly support their country's membership in the European Union, according to a poll released Monday, despite their leaders' tussles with Brussels.

The survey by the TNS OBOP institute, published by the PAP news agency, said 72 percent of Poles positively rate Poland's membership in the 25-member bloc.

Six percent of respondents do not support Poland's two-year-old membership, while 19 percent see no advantage or disadvantage, the survey found.

Poles' positive assessment of EU membership follows a string of spats between Warsaw and Brussels since the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party took power a year ago.

Warsaw has clashed with the EU over issues ranging from economic protectionism to perceived attacks on the independence of Poland's central bank. The government's conservative stance on gay rights and other social issues also has drawn criticism.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and his twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, have pledged to protect Poland's interests in the EU and are reluctant to surrender too much sovereignty to Brussels.

They govern in a coalition with two smaller parties that are skeptical of the bloc.

Poland joined the EU along with nine other mainly former communist countries.

Since 2004, hundreds of thousands of Poles have used the new opportunity to find better-paying jobs in Western Europe. Many Poles say that EU membership also makes them feel more secure and freer to travel and seek education abroad.

The survey of 1,005 adults, conducted from Oct. 5-9, gave a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Source:iht.com