Do you have any sources for the claim that a large part of growth is off-shoring?

Because that seems extremely implausible, and actually very insulting to the incredible success of Eastern Europe, before and after joining the EU, in closing the gap to Western Europe over the last 3 decades.

https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/gdp-per-capita-worldbank?...

Large part is due to offshoring, but not the IT. Offshoring the manufacturing.

Also some companies are moving their offices from Poland to India now.

China was the offshore haven and built their own domestic economy off the expertise while still maintaining very low income taxes and 15% corporate tax for tech companies.

You dont have money, you complain. You (as in your country) get the money, yet you still complain.

Sure, its not ideally distributed, but nowhete is. Such economic success will drag many parts of the country up. Yes, jobs not paid the best will have to commute from further. But compared to where Poland was 2 decades ago (been there many times), its great growth and success.

Plus you guys have correct mentality to by far the biggest threat to Europe - russia. Not so common in eastern Europe, russian-paid politicians are quite successful in some places. But of course Poland has a history with russia to remember so thats luckily not an option.

They didn't do a 180 at all. Tusk basically shares Orban's entire platform, particularly vis-à-vis the EU. Orban just got caught in corruption scandals.

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Thankfully most people have learned from the absolute shambles of Brexit and either of these countries leaving is extremely unlikely.

There is pretty common trend of people complaining about X being bad coz EU but most of the time it turns into one of

* It was pretty sensible EU directive implemented badly by national govt * It was pretty sensible EU directive implemented okay but communicated badly * Outright lie about the problem and the scope of it.

One example: The people complained that "EU will force them to pay to scrap solar panels"

The truth: Some countries added price of recycling into price of the solar panels, some didn't. Those that did had free recycling, those that didn't needed owner to pay a fee when scrapping it. So, naturally, buying solar panel from country with no fee was cheaper and scrapping it in country with fee was free. EU noticed that loophole and forced countries into including the fee in panel cost:

The truth: Poland applied it by just applying fee to panels bought before the rule unification

The lie number 1: EU forced that implementation on Poland. Nothing was forced, that way of "fixing it" (vs eating the cost was what Polish govt chose

The lie number 2: (and I have no idea where it came from) "You will have to scrap your panels made before this date AND pay for it".

Sometimes I suspect most of that is just russian propaganda using anything to undermine EU

Thinking about that risk increases said risk.

Also, for Germany, and I assume, other EU countries, cohesion and economic strength of the EU is the most important value that exists.

This is how it works. Ireland was a net beneficiary until 2018, and now it is a net contributor (one of only 10 net contributors). These are decades long investments, Poland joined in 2004. Per capita Poland is not the "greatest" beneficiary but I don't think that will help win any arguments for those already resistant to facts or reasoning. https://www.euronews.com/business/2024/12/09/eu-budget-who-p...

The argument that red states receive handouts is essentially a myth. Almost the entirety of the "handout" is social security/medicare based on where retirees live (notably the sunbelt), where military bases are located (rural areas of less populous states), and where most Federal land management offices and employees are located (the mountain west). Ironically, it counts Federal employment as "welfare" with more steps.

Two of the three are intrinsically tied to the locale. You can't move the National Forests to Manhattan. They closed the military bases in the most expensive areas like California decades ago to save money so they are mostly located in flyover country now.

Social Security actually is a welfare handout but retirees are choosing to move to red states. Unless one is arguing to forcibly prevent retirees from moving to the sunbelt, Social Security dollars will disproportionately flow into those states.

There is no red state "handout".

People need something to resent or hold in disregard. Government and taxes are a good target. The problem only really begin when someone actually tries to reduce or eliminate that target. It's the old "be careful what you ask for, you might just get it".

>This is something I tell people I am generally politically/socially align with (liberals/progressives) when they start talking about “handouts for red states.” California and other areas were not developed on their own, they required years of sustained federal investment and interest in the area.

If they were to ask where you think this "federal investment" funding came from, what would you reply?

> California and other areas were not developed on their own, they required years of sustained federal investment and interest in the area.

In a similar way, Western Europe benefited from a lot of investment after WW2, while Eastern Europe didn't receive the same investment then.

So the recent investment OP mentioned is just balancing the scales.

A rising tide lifts all boats

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You've some wrong assumption. One is that you are wrong about Poland / Greece wages. In 2026 Polish worker actually earns more than a Greece worker for the same role. Something like 25% more in Poland

Also Polands power grid is quite old and hasn't kept pace with demand. The grid operator last year had to reject thousands of requests for new connections

> So yeah ... best of luck if you're a car factory worker in France or Germany.

If it makes you feel any better the Polish car factory worker will probably lose their job to a Chinese car factory worker.

> best of luck if you're a car factory worker in France or Germany

You mean the ones who fought tooth and nail for comfy jobs within unions with barely no way to fire anyone? And now are wondering where the jobs and the money went?

Tesla workers rejected IG Metall as the union of choice for their factory because all they want to know is send faxes and keep companies wrapped around in red tape like a mummy

That’s the thing, Poland got wealthier because it became an extension of German industry, with some IT stuff thrown in. Czechia would have also been in the world’s top 20 had they had a larger population, as they’re even more dependent on said German industry.

So many false claims in one post. Impressive levels of delusion.

citation needed

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Economic zones are NOT zero sum.

OTOH, the more developed EU countries want the less developed countries to be reasonably well-off, so they can keep buying stuff from them. E.g. 56% of Germany's exports went to other EU countries in 2025. And, while Trump and Xi Jin Ping are around, that's only going to become more important...

The Holocaust was a decision taken by one of the two pillars of the EU, Germany, so countries nowadays being rich or poor has nothing to do with past “good” decisions of those countries populaces. And before anyone commenting that the Holocaust and the German economy are two orthogonal subjects, just look at the corporate history of German industry giants VW and Bayer.

> The richer areas made good decisions; now this is being negated by bureaucrats in Brussels

Imperialism and stealing from Jews were also among those "good" decisions. Yes I know it's not all bad, but neither is it all good. It's very reductionist to describe the imbalance like this.

Not the same extent like it was before… Now most of the times is just slowed down traffic (quick glance who's in car and move on), and more than that I was maybe stopped two times for quick chit-chat (where/why I'm heading). And I crossed, multiple times, borders of DK (they had checks since 2018?), DE, A, IT, CH, CZ…

Quick ID check happened once - when I was traveling with bus across border.

Back in a days it was a lot, lot slower and more detailed.

Try going to Switzerland by car (from France for example), and you'll see what an actual border check is.

Pretty different from having a chance to be stopped by a random check while crossing.

I was just in Europe this February. I took a bus from France to Germany and customs checked the passports of everyone on board.