ABSTRACT
Poland’s accession to the EU marked for many Poles a symbolic end to an era of Soviet dominance. It was preceded by efforts to build a democratic, independent state, and served as legitimization for the changes and reforms that were implemented after 1989. This transformation process was often perceived as Poland’s ‘return to Europe’, successfully achieved in 2004, and had a profound impact on the political, economic and social dimensions of public life. Striving for EU membership, Poland had to fulfil a number of entry criteria and adopt a body of EU legislation; here the ‘impact of Europe’ is most clear. However, there were other, less tangible effects in many spheres of politics, such as foreign policy. This chapter seeks to explore the impact that EU enlargement, and later membership, both generally and through participation in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), has had on Polish foreign policy.
