The paper analyses the costs and benefits of Poland's membership in the European Union. It also analyses an alternative scenario, which assumes that Poland fails to join the European Union. The report presents two scenarios of the consequences (costs and benefits) of membership, taking into...

Today, just as Europe is about to expand through the accession of new members such as Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and six other countries, it is clearer than ever that the Visegrad Four's mission has not come to an end but is gaining new dimensions. The Visegrad Group has fulfilled...

Although the Visegrád Four countries often defended the same or similar positions in the European Convention, their views differed on many important issues. This situation is likely to be repeated at the upcoming Intergovernmental Conference. This basically confirms the tendency that can be...

Basic assumptions of the EU's new cohesion policy for the years 2007-2013 will be probably worked out by the end of 2003. Based on the current debate, one may assume that they will not contain any breakthrough changes. Corrections to the existing system might include introduction of transition...

Polish politicians are increasingly often referring to the prospect of next yearu0092s elections to the European Parliament. Voters, however, are still unaware of the fact that these elections are to take place. Only 27% of Poles know that they will be choosing their representatives to the...

The EU has a long history of successful enlargements. In 1957, six founding members -Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands - signed the Treaty of Rome. Since then, four enlargement waves have followed. However, the enlargement facing the EU today is without precedent...

CIR is an independent, non-governmental, 12-year old think-tank, dedicated to the study of international relations and those foreign policy issues, which are of crucial importance to Poland, Europe and transatlantic relations in both the long and the short-term. CIR carries out its own research...