ever heard of Lisbon Treaty - it will give European countries voting powers proportional to their population - (which is unfair in an international organization as explained by many politcal scientists and mathematicians - Poland proposed square root system which is much fairer) - should I post some links?
It's a never ending argument over voting - I think the current arrangement works, although in that usual EU way of being horribly complicated. But the problem with the Polish method is was that some countries (like Malta) would have lost almost 1/3rd of their voting power - so not fair, either.
Either way, Poland does have a great deal of influence that she's not using (neither Tusk nor Kaczynski arguably have used it well).
you completely missed the mark - Kaczyński is no euro-sceptic (I am repeating myself) he is very aware of the benefits of the EU to Poland but can see how bigger countries want to screw us here and there (proportional voting system is a major step to do that)
It's not a matter of being screwed, it's a matter of getting things done. You only need to look at the history of European voting to see how the veto has been used as a weapon, often for the sake of domestic politics - look at Slovenia blocking Croatian accession to the EU, all because Croatia wouldn't give in over a minor border dispute. Or - what about how Romania is now threatening to veto Croatian accession if they're not allowed to enter Schengen. Yes, it does erode Poland's influence, but the system erodes *everyone's* influence for the sake of the bloc as a whole. You simply cannot get anything done if 27 members can veto everything they don't like - hence why QMV works.
you should be aware of the cost Poland payed to join the EU - and it was a huuge cost (mainly because of the asymetrical trade agreements and resulting trade deficit) - some industries in Poland were only bought by western companies to put them out of business (to get rid of the competition - Polish 'sellers' are of course also to blame) (the first that comes to my mind is Fael Ząbkowice)
Indeed. I'm still in two minds as to whether Poland should have gone for membership at all - economically, I don't think the country was ready at all. But then again - I remind myself that I was able to cross between Frankfurt (Oder) and Słubice about 20 times a couple of weeks ago and no-one gave a damn about what I was doing.
But Poland really should be following the Tusk doctrine - be nice to the neighbours, win their trust and manipulate them from there. Janusz Lewandowski's actions recently are a great example of that.