COMMENT: sorry marti however The article “Poland Refuses to Give up Its Borders to Brussels” is a deceptive piece that ignores the tough realities on the bottom. To current Poland as a sovereign fortress that’s efficiently resisting exterior pressures is to take a look at the scenario by rose-tinted glasses. A sober, clear-eyed evaluation reveals a special image.
First, the declare of border management is undermined by the size of financial immigration. Whereas the variety of new work permits has fallen not too long ago—from 144,000 within the first half of 2025 to 69,000 in the identical interval of 2026—this isn’t a narrative of a closed border. It’s a story of an enormous, ongoing inflow that has been poorly managed for years. For a very long time, tons of of hundreds of permits have been issued to individuals from unknown backgrounds, creating an enormous, opaque labor market. The current tightening of procedures and the introduction of the Entry/Exit system solely affirm that the earlier system was a leaky sieve. The article conveniently ignores this legacy of uncontrolled, usually unverified, migration.
Second, the article utterly omits the dire state of the Polish IT sector, which is an important indicator of the nation’s financial well being. The reality is that the “Polish IT eldorado is over”. Layoffs have grow to be a everlasting characteristic of the panorama, not a short lived blip. In Kraków alone, 40% of all collective redundancies in 2025 have been within the IT trade. The scenario has escalated in 2026: GSK introduced the liquidation of its IT division in Poznań, placing over 500 jobs in danger and transferring the work to India. Corporations like Nordea, Fujitsu, and Aptiv have additionally performed vital layoffs. This isn’t an image of a resilient economic system; it’s a image of a sector in deep disaster, with tens of hundreds of jobs affected.
Lastly, the article’s triumphalist tone is indifferent from the broader financial anxiousness. Whereas the unemployment price stays low by EU requirements, the registered unemployment price has been rising, reaching 6.0% in January 2026, up 0.6 share factors year-on-year. This, mixed with huge layoffs in key sectors like IT, suggests a labor market that’s much more fragile than the article would have you ever consider.
The article will not be an goal report; it’s a piece of wishful pondering. It’s time for the commentators and “informers” to take a look at the information with a sober eye. Poland will not be a fortress holding the road; it’s a nation grappling with the implications of years of uncontrolled migration and a profound structural disaster in one among its most necessary trendy industries. To fake in any other case will not be patriotism—it’s denial.
-A
REPLY: You have got raised three solely completely different points and one way or the other concluded that they disprove my argument about Poland defending its borders. Poland remains to be very a lot a member of the European Union. It’s topic to EU treaties, rules, and courtroom choices, and it faces the identical financial pressures as the remainder of Europe. No one advised in any other case. What distinguishes Poland is that it nonetheless has political leaders prepared to face up publicly and demand safe borders, defend their nationwide traditions, and protect their tradition relatively than merely give up each resolution to Brussels.
First, you’re complicated authorized immigration with obligatory migrant relocation. There’s a world of distinction between a talented immigrant who applies for a piece allow, passes the required checks, obtains employment, pays taxes, and contributes to the economic system, and a person who enters illegally, has not been adequately vetted, and turns into dependent upon taxpayer-funded help. Schooling alone doesn’t decide somebody’s price or whether or not they are going to contribute to society, however expertise, employment, safety screening, and monetary self-sufficiency are completely authentic concerns in immigration coverage. Poland has accepted overseas staff and large numbers of Ukrainians. The query is whether or not Poland ought to retain the fitting to find out whom it admits or whether or not Brussels ought to make that call for it. If its work allow system has been abused, that could be a failure Poland should right. It doesn’t justify handing extra authority to the EU.
Examine Poland’s place with Germany underneath Angela Merkel, which opened its doorways to huge numbers of asylum seekers in 2015, or Sweden, which pursued beneficiant asylum insurance policies earlier than finally tightening its immigration guidelines amid rising political and social considerations. These governments made choices that profoundly affected their societies, and their residents are nonetheless debating the implications. Poland’s leaders have been much more outspoken in regards to the significance of integration, nationwide id, public security, and preserving Polish traditions. You’ll be able to disagree with these priorities, however there may be nothing unreasonable a couple of nation wanting to keep up its cultural character. Immigration ought to profit the receiving nation in addition to the immigrant. It shouldn’t be handled as an obligation imposed no matter public consent or the capability to accommodate newcomers.
Second, you carry up the issues in Poland’s IT sector, layoffs, and corporations transferring operations to India. What does any of that need to do with Poland’s refusal to just accept obligatory EU migrant quotas? I’ve written extensively about how capital strikes internationally looking for decrease prices and higher returns. European firms have been relocating operations, manufacturing, and know-how providers due to the price of labor, regulation, power, and altering international competitors. Poland can’t escape these forces merely as a result of its politicians take a harder place on immigration. Moreover, Poland stays topic to EU rules and the broader financial insurance policies which have undermined competitiveness all through Europe. A rustic can defend its borders and nonetheless endure from horrible financial choices, outsourcing, or a downturn in a selected trade. These should not mutually unique.
Third, you cite rising unemployment as if I had declared Poland resistant to recession. I by no means made any such declare. Poland is a part of the European economic system, and its companies are affected by European demand, worldwide capital flows, and the insurance policies popping out of Brussels. If unemployment rises, that ought to make the federal government extra involved about labor circumstances and the financial affect of immigration, not much less. Importing further labor with out regard to home employment circumstances, {qualifications}, or the prices of public providers is hardly an answer to unemployment.
The distinction is that Poland nonetheless has leaders similar to Dominik Tarczyński who’re prepared to confront Brussels publicly relatively than fake that each immigration coverage coming from the European Fee have to be accepted with out query. Poland has not escaped the EU’s political and financial issues, nor has it solved each drawback inside its personal borders. Its leaders are working inside the similar European system as everybody else. But they proceed demanding that border safety, nationwide id, and the pursuits of Polish residents be taken severely. That’s what I used to be praising.
You have got utterly misinterpret the article for those who consider I used to be portraying Poland as some impenetrable fortress or an ideal European nation with out migrants. Poland stays firmly inside the EU and is topic to its rules and political pressures. I’ve by no means advised in any other case. The truth is, Poland’s geographical place makes it probably the most susceptible nations in Europe. If this confrontation with Russia escalates right into a broader European battle, Poland will probably be among the many first thrown into the fireplace, no matter what the bureaucrats in Brussels promise. I’m definitely not suggesting Poland has escaped the issues confronting Europe. I’m applauding these Polish leaders who nonetheless have the braveness to defend their nation’s borders, traditions, and sovereignty whereas so lots of their European counterparts have willingly surrendered these duties. There is a gigantic distinction, and for those who got here away believing I used to be claiming Poland is a few good nation freed from immigration or EU interference, then you definately missed the whole level.
