From Green Island To Democratic Backslider and Ukraine Key Supporter: The Changing Role of Poland in the EU

Since the “Big Bang” enlargement in 2004 the role of Poland in the European Union has been evolving. First, it was building an increasingly stronger position in the EU - due to the stable democratic regime, relatively good economic situation in the country during the financial and economic crisis, improving relations with the key EU players such as Germany and France and activities of the subsequent Polish governments and this country representatives in the EU institutions (some of them holding the highest positions, as e.g. Donal Tusk, who was the President of the European Council). It justified the ambition of Poland to be one of the EU leaders. However, when the Law and Justice (PiS) took over the power in 2015, this strong Polish position began to deteriorate gradually – as a result of a more Eurosceptic position of the government, the de-democratization processes in this country and worsening relations with Germany, other EU key countries and the European Commission (which initiated the procedure against Poland based on Article 7 TEU). The processes and events taking place in Europe in recent years – such as the Brexit, a further development of the Three Sees Initiative and first of all the changes in the Eastern neighbourhood led by the war in Ukraine force scholars to look again at Poland in terms of its current position in the EU. This paper is aimed at attempting to identify its role (or roles) and answering the following questions: Do we observe nowadays the change of the Polish position in the EU? If it is the case, what change do we actually observe? What are the reasons (impact of domestic, regional and global factors)? Can it have any impact on the relationship within the EU and the question of the EU leadership?