Home is where the złoty is

Some 51 percent of the estimated 750,000 Poles living in the UK plan to return home, according to a survey by the Center for International relations. The report, which surveyed some 636 Poles in the UK, comes amid analysts' claims that the strengthening złoty will drive Poles back to the domestic labor market.

The złoty, which stood at around seven to one against the pound two years ago, has strengthened to less than five to one in recent months. The change means the money Poles earn in the UK can no longer buy as much back home in Poland.

However, the strength of the złoty is not the only deciding factor for many Poles and although over half plan to return home, just 31 percent of those respondents who are planning to return will do so within the next two years.

One respondent explained, "I'll come back, but everything depends on the social and economic situation in Poland [and] the direction of legislative changes - reforms instead of stigmatizing attitudes towards those who are active [in public life]."

Some 49 percent either plan to remain in the UK or are undecided, often because they see no chance of Poland developing enough to lure them back or because they have built a family in the UK. One respondent said, "I'm not coming back since what I have left behind is nothing but boredom and poverty; you cannot live there, you can only be a living dead."

But the report's author, Krystyna Iglicka, noted that one of the most striking findings of the survey was Poles' "positive opinions of the UK and plans to settle down there or to stay there for a longer time, which contrasts with their complete lack of interest in the political life in the UK, which manifested itself in their non-participation in the local elections."