POLAND AND THE EU

摘要

Early on the morning of May 1, Polish Prime, Minister Leszek Miller will hoist the European Union's blue flag with gold stars above the doorway I leading to his vast 19th century office building. Fifteen years after casting off communism and embarking on a process of wrenching change, Poland is joining the EU―final confirmation that it is now a mature, liberal democracy with a dynamic free-market economy. "This is a turning point," says Miller, a former Communist. "At last we are rejoining the West." Poland is by far the largest of the 10 primarily Central and Eastern European countries that will become members of the common market on May 1. With a population of 38.6 million and a gross domestic product of $230 billion, it accounts for over half of the newcomers' population and 41% of their total GDP. To many Western politicians and executives, bringing Poland into the fold is what ex- pansion is all about. "Enlargement without the Poles would be unthinkable," says German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.