Pole position

Shamelessly squeezing one more post out of last week's trip to Warsaw....

Back in the dark days of the 1980s, when the martial law regime of General Jaruszelski was pitted against Lech Walesa's Soildarity movement, there was a joke doing the rounds about how Poland could solve its problems.  Supposedly, an expert committee had been set up, and had come up with two solutions: a practical solution and a miracle solution.  The practical solution: the Virgin Mary would come down from heaven and turn all of Poland's coal reserves into gold.  The miracle solution: the Poles would stop fighting among themselves and get back to work.

It wasn't fair, of course.  Even under the yoke of communism, the Poles had managed the almost superhuman task of reconstructing the major cities that had been laid waste by the Nazi occupation and the scorched-earth tactics of the fleeing Wehrmacht.  And it's still not fair.  Poland's coal is still black, yet the country is developing rapidly.  The politics may be as fractious as ever, but that hasn't stopped Poland from being one of Europe's success stories of the past decade.

Warsaw bristles with construction cranes.  The hideous Palace of Science and Culture is no longer the only skyscraper. The city's airport is spanking new.  There's a subway, with a second line on the way.  Roads that were potholed just a decade ago are now in excellent repair.  There are new hotels and restaurants everywhere.  There's a new national stadium, ready and waiting for the European nations tournament next month.  There are benches in the parks that play Chopin when you sit on them.

As with the reconstruction in the 1950s, the Poles have done most of the hard work themselves.  There has, however, been a big assist from the EU, partly in the form of hard cash, but more importantly in the opening up of markets, both for goods and for financing.  Much of the impressive development that has taken place over the last decade or so has been a direct result of Poland's admission to the EU.  And of course, it's not just Poland -- there are similar stories to be told all across eastern and southern Europe.

It's worth keeping that in mind as the Eurozone crisis enters its next phase.  The Euro may look doomed -- though that's the fault of dissimulating and deal-making politicians, rather than of the technocrats who designed it -- and the Brussels bureaucracy may be oppressive and unaccountable, but the "European project" has still done a great deal more good than harm*.  It would be very sad if a few feckless politicians and a bunch of greedy hedgies and bond vigilantes were to bring the whole thing to a screeching halt.  

* UPDATE, 9 May: Wonder of wonders, the FT agrees!