How attitudes towards EU are changing in Poland and could it leave the bloc
The topic of a possible Polish exit from the EU, the so-called Polexit, has not disappeared from the country’s public discourse. Moreover, sentiments questioning deeper integration with the European Union are growing in Polish society.
This is happening even though, according to opinion polls, only a small share of Polish society actually wants the country to leave the EU.
At the same time, dissatisfaction with certain EU actions is increasing and populists are actively exploiting this.
Read more to understand what is happening in Poland and whether there are real grounds to fear its withdrawal from the EU in the article by Polish journalist Agnieszka Lichnerowicz: Hidden threat: who in Poland wants to leave the EU and is Polexit possible.
According to research results, Poles firmly support EU membership.
In January 2026, the leading research center CBOS conducted a survey. It showed that 82% of respondents supported staying in the EU, while only 14% opposed it.
High support for the EU in Poland is linked, among other things, to income levels and political preferences. The CBOS survey indicates that higher education, good earnings and satisfaction with one’s financial situation all increase support for EU membership.
Almost all voters identifying with the left support EU membership, as do 86% of those who consider themselves centrists.
Among people with right-wing views, supporters of the EU still prevail, but now they make up only about two-thirds.
The more open and progressive segment of citizens calls for closer relations with liberal Western Europe (including Germany). Meanwhile, the more conservative part of Polish society perceives European liberalism as a threat and views Brussels, Berlin and Kyiv with considerable distrust.
The conservative environment also fears Russia, but, judging by statements of its political and intellectual leaders, Germans and Ukrainians often provoke even stronger negative reactions.
The temperature of the dispute within society is fueled by the two main political parties: the centrist Civic Coalition and the increasingly right-wing Law and Justice party.
This kind of political confrontation is expected in connection with the parliamentary elections in autumn 2027: on one side, warnings about the European Union; on the other, warnings about leaving it.
This creates increasingly fertile ground on which the drama of Polexit could potentially unfold in the future.
Politicians from Poland’s largest opposition party, Law and Justice, do not campaign for leaving the EU, but they criticise it more and more actively, calling for abandoning the European Green Deal and the EU emissions trading scheme, ignoring the trade agreement with South American countries, and not taking money from the SAFE programme.
According to Polityka Insight analyst Wojciech Szacki, among the parties almost certain to enter the next Sejm, only one openly calls for Poland to leave the EU – the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown led by Grzegorz Braun.
Anti-EU slogans are one of the elements used by anti-system parties, which also mobilize voters against Germans, Ukrainians, green transformation and liberal democracy.
Polish citizens’ attitudes towards the EU could change dramatically when the country stops receiving more money from the EU budget than it contributes as has been the case so far.
This would not necessarily be linked to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Rather, Poland’s economy is growing, and the country may shift from being a recipient of financial support to a net contributor.
Therefore, the Polexit narrative should not be underestimated, even if it initially appears not to fall on fertile ground.