Abstract Since Poland joined the European Union in 2004, its relations with the EU have followed a dual path. On the one hand, Poland has participated in EU affairs and played an active role within them. On the other hand, during the rule of the Law and Justice Party from 2015 to 2023, Poland departed from EU values in its judicial reforms and consequently came into conflict with the EU. Both Poland’s participation in EU affairs and its value-based conflicts with the EU arose from the need to safeguard and advance national interests, and both were closely related to the policy preferences of the ruling party. The EU values Poland’s participation, yet it has appeared powerless in the face of Poland’s departures from EU values. It therefore needs to seek more effective policy instruments to ensure that its values are respected by member states and that departures from them are promptly curbed. At a deeper level, the dual path of Poland–EU relations to some extent reflects different understandings of European integration on the part of Poland and the EU. Poland regards the EU as a community of interests, and its participation in EU affairs is aimed at safeguarding and advancing national interests; the EU, by contrast, sees itself as a community of values, for which the protection of shared values is of overriding importance. In this sense, whether Poland can internalize EU values as part of its national interests will directly determine the depth of its future participation in EU affairs and its power and status within the EU.
Ge Gao (Mon,) studied this question.