by Adam Hanzelewicz

(ANSA) - WARSAW - Poland's accession to the EU had a positive impact both economically and in terms of political influence: since May 1, 2004, the country's GDP has doubled (48.7%), two million of new jobs were created, exports to the EU countries have tripled, while funds obtained during the last decade had a positive balance, 61.4 billion euros, compared to the contributions paid by Warswaw. In terms of politics, Poland has become a strong and influential member of the EU, capable of defending its own interests, but also to operate responsibly in favour of the integration process.

This scenario can be observed in a report issued by Poland's Foreign Ministry on 10 years of EU membership. The Polish economy has passed even the most important test, that is the global economic crisis: in 2009, Poland was the only EU country which did not to suffer from a collapse of the economy. In the years 2008-2013, the overall growth of the GDP has exceeded 20%, the best result among all EU countries. In 2003, the Polish GDP per capita amounted to 48.8% of the EU27 average, 66.9% in 2013 (+ 18.1%).

Over ten years, 2 million new jobs were created and economic growth has notably improved Polish society: from 2005 to 2012, the number of people who live at risk of poverty or social exclusion was reduced by 7 million, while 1.3 million people have lifted themselves out of poverty.

The country has taken advantage of the opportunities offered by the single market, becoming part of the largest free trade area in the world, which includes 500 million consumers and 20 million businesses. Over the past decade, Polish exports to the EU have doubled, reaching 4%, which is the highest growth among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the second highest in the whole EU after the Netherlands. In 2013, Poland has almost tripled its exports to the EU, compared to the pre-accession period (products worth nearly 3.5 billion zloty), a figure which is twice bigger than the GDP, and reached a total revenue of 550 billion zloty (EUR 135 billion), thanks to the export of services (primarily transport and tourism), with a positive balance amounting to more than 37 billion zloty ( 9 billion).

The EU accesion has strongly improved Poland's attractiveness in terms of investment. Since 2004, foreign direct investment in Poland have exceeded 405 billion zloty (100 billion euros). Over the past ten years, Poland - among all Peco states - was chosen by the largest number of foreign investors. Poland's foreign direct investment into the EU member states was about 4.6 billion zloty in 2003 and 137 billion zloty in 2012.

Even though in 2005 the president of a low cost airline had said that no one would want to go to Gdansk because ''there is nothing to see, but shipyards'', over the last decade foreigners have had over 630 million journeys to Poland, 140 million for tourism purposes, spending an overall amount of 284.3 billion zlotys. By 2014, one hundred cities in the world have a direct air connection with Warsaw, that is four times the air connections which were available before Poland's accession to the EU. (ANSA).