Parting thoughts
Jon Young: You witnessed the country's accession to the European Union - how has it changed Poland as an international player in business and politics?
Ambassador Crawford: Poland knew it was going to join the EU and so developed its legal policies and framework changes beforehand. But a lot has changed since. The free movement of workers has been an extraordinary phenomenon. There are something like 400 flights a week now between the UK and Poland.
A dynamic new relationship has developed between Poland and the rest of the EU. Poland is firm in its approach to the Union. For example, on the EU constitutional voting, Poland, under its present leadership, says it doesn't like the proposal and thinks it should be able to dig its heels in. When other EU states dig their heels in, it's called "being European." When Poland does it, it's "un-European."
As accession countries join, the club becomes larger and it becomes harder to incorporate what everybody wants. We don't always argue with Poland, but the point is to harmonize the opinions.
Poland now has an historic opportunity. Many billions of euros from the EU and many billions more from the private sector will drastically change Poland and Europe over the next 15 years.
Finance Minister Anna Fotyga last month refused entry to international observers wishing to monitor the upcoming general elections. Do you think this could damage Poland's reputation?
The point of election monitoring is to set standards over the whole of the EU. The UK was heavily scrutinized for its postal voting and didn't say "this is ridiculous, we are being dictated to by a banana republic." Persistence on refusing international observers when they are present at other EU elections could be damaging. Anyone who knows the role of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) will find this baffling.
One of the great achievements of the last 20 years is that we have these standards. But there may be an issue concerning how it was presented to Poland.
I sometimes wonder whether Poland realizes it is doing well. There are a lot of legacy issues from communism, especially in the way information is spread through the government. The bureaucratic processes are an obstacle.
The country has made massive progress. Over 18 years of very complex change they have managed to join the EU in a very strong position, especially when compared to the Balkans, where they had a total disaster.
Will Poland's success be hindered without a stable national government?
Progress should continue. There is an underlying framework which helps with progress. Business is a major driver but the government is helping. The frequent movement of people in politics doesn't help. When you change people a lot it is harder to work up good relations with their foreign counterparts.
At the moment, the political scene resembles a crowded business market. There are too many firms competing in the marketplace and so you are seeing mergers, partnerships and hostile takeovers. It's understandable that Poles could become disillusioned with politics when it looks more like the Premiership with all the pre-season transfers taking place.
