Poles See Germany as the Most Powerful Country in Europe

Polish daily Rzeczpospolita discusses the results of Transatlantic Trends 2021. Most notably, 75 percent of Polish respondents see Germany as Europe’s most powerful country, recognizing the dominant role it has taken on in European politics.

At the same time, it is also noted that Poles have very positive views on the United States, with 84 percent of Polish respondents wanting a greater U.S. involvement in European security. However, international partners assessed negatively the reliability of Poland: only Turkey is seen as less reliable. The article links this trend to the state of democracy in Poland, with 61 percent of Polish respondents indicating that they are concerned about democracy in their country.

When it comes to economic priorities, the article notes that Poland is the only country surveyed where the reduction of taxes is seen as the most important economic task for the government, while 78 per cent of Polish respondents believe the country profits from free trade. Migration is viewed as an important challenge – 45 percent see it negatively – although only 23 percent of Poles want to see a more restrictive migration policy: the lowest rate among the surveyed countries.