Germany, Europe's largest economy, is mired in stagnation, while Poland continues to post some of the fastest growth rates on the continent. For Marcin Piątkowski, a professor at Kozminski University in Warsaw and former chief economist of PKO BP, this contrast presents an opportunity. In an interview with Euronews, he argued that Germany must adopt a "bold revolutionary approach" to break free from its current malaise, drawing lessons from Poland's remarkable economic transformation.
Piątkowski, author of the bestselling book Europe's Growth Champion: Insights from the Economic Rise of Poland, points out that Poland has been the fastest-growing large economy in Europe since 1990. According to European Commission forecasts, Poland will expand at an average rate of over 3% this year and next—more than three times faster than Germany. Globally, Poland has outperformed South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan over the same period, increasing its income per person by 3.6 times. It has moved from near-Jamaican poverty in 1990 to a level now exceeding that of Japan or Spain, all while maintaining income inequality lower than Sweden's.
What Germany Can Learn from Poland's Five E's
Piątkowski attributes Poland's success to what he calls the "five E's": egalitarianism, education, entrepreneurship, elites, and the European Union. Egalitarianism, he notes, is a rare positive legacy of communism that left Poland with an inclusive society where opportunity is not determined by name, gender, birthplace, or parental wealth. Education saw a boom: the share of young Poles attending university rose from 10% in 1990 to 50% by the mid-2000s, compared to just 38% in Germany today.
Entrepreneurship flourished thanks to a large domestic market and a highly diversified economy. Poland sells everything from strawberries and dishwashers to drones, satellites, and luxury yachts, making it the only European economy to avoid recession since 1990 (aside from a shallow COVID-19 dip). Pragmatic elites avoided "fiscal fundamentalism," prioritizing growth over abstract debt-to-GDP ratios. And EU membership provided open markets, institutions, and predictability that attracted over €350 billion in foreign investment, boosting Poland's income by an estimated 40%.
Germany, Piątkowski argues, has much to gain from closer ties. Polish exports to Germany have surged 33-fold since 1990, reaching over €100 billion this year, making Poland a larger export market for Germany than China. Hundreds of thousands of German jobs depend on Polish prosperity. Moreover, Germany's industrial competitiveness has been sustained by locating production in low-cost Poland and Central Europe, and it receives about €5 billion in annual dividends from its investments in Poland—roughly a quarter of its net EU budget contribution.
Piątkowski identifies three key lessons for Berlin. First, Poland's product and labor markets are far more open and flexible. Second, Germany must abandon its obsession with balanced budgets and invest more in infrastructure, digitalization, and education. Third, it should embrace EU integration more deeply, rather than resisting it. "Germany needs more fear and more optimism at the same time," he said, warning that without change, the country risks falling further behind.
The broader European context underscores the stakes. As EU defence chiefs warn of more Russian attacks on European soil, economic resilience becomes a security issue. Meanwhile, tensions between Poland and Ukraine over historical honors, as seen in the escalating dispute over returned awards, highlight the fragility of regional cooperation. Yet Piątkowski remains optimistic: "Germany is Europe's biggest economy. Poland is Europe's most dynamic economy. Putting the two together could be a way to go."
