EuroparlTV's guests discuss the realities of the Polish job market and reveal how they believe Poland has come out of the financial crisis relatively unscathed.

Focus: The secret of Poland's success

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/15645862/M001-0068-EN.srt

Polish plumbers, the bugbear of the 2004  enlargement, have made a fortune.

Poland has come out  of the 2009 crisis unscathed.

It was the only country  with positive growth

Today, Poland, which will take  the EU Presidency for six months,

continues to attract  much foreign investment.

Even the Chinese are building  a motorway in the country

ahead of the Euro 2012  Football Championships.

What's the secret of an economic policy  conducive to the creation of new jobs?

why are many young Poles living  with job insecurity,

like their Western European cousins,  still tempted to emigrate?

Jakub Iwaniuk and Patrick Delfosse  went to Warsaw

to report back on the lives  of young Poles still living there

as well as of foreigners who  have chosen to emigrate to the country.

This is Ela who lives in Warsaw.  At 26, she says she's privileged.

It's rare that people of her age are able  to live alone and provide for themselves.

Luckily I own this apartment  and don't rent it.

Otherwise, I would be living  with my parents.

If someone does not have  the luxury of a certain family heritage

then the chances of leaving home  are really small.

But her privileges end here and her  career path is quite common in Europe.

She studied in Poland and Germany,  graduated in psychology and history of art

and speaks 3 languages.  Her CV is impressive

but wage and social insecurity  is a reality.

Ela has worked full-time for two years  in this psychology practice

for 2000 zlotys, which is  a little under 500 euros per month.

Psychoeducational laboratory,  how may I help?

I will check my agenda for  free appointments. One second...

The cost of maintaining an employee  is very high in Poland.

This solution cuts a lot  of the employer's expenses

because he asks me to do  the office management

but I am not hired as,  for example, a secretary.

I have opened my own company  and in order to earn some extra money

from time to time I offer training,  management exercises...

There are millions of young people  like this in Poland.

Even if the situation is difficult,  it's nothing out of the ordinary in Europe.

Compared to other EU countries,  Poland is one of the best.

Warsaw says the Polish plumber  syndrome belongs to the past.

Take the example of Boris Fournier,  a 26-year-old French salesman,

You can advance quickly as it's easier  for young people to be given positions.

It's not like France where they ask:  Which school? Which degree?

In France it's quite hierarchical, you have  to wait several years to progress.

Here it's enough to want to do things  to be able to move forward.

Our two protagonists  have every chance of success

but represent a privileged and  highly-educated group of young people.

It remains to be seen if their example will  become the symbol of tomorrow's Poland.

Here we are in the studio  of the EP in Strasbourg,

to try and better understand  present-day Poland.

from the European People's Party.  Hello.

And Xavier Delcourt,  professor at the CUEJ in Strasbourg.

Róża Thun, I would like to talk  about the Polish phenomenon.

Poland came out  of the 2009 crisis unscathed.

It's the only country  which had a positive growth rate

when many other countries  had difficulties coping.

A lot of investments  are still being made in the country.

What's the secret of the Polish success?

Our inborn genius, of course.  - Of course.

There are several elements which explain  why we went through this crisis

One of them is that we went through  a lot of dramatic changes since 1989.

Since then, in Poland,  everything has changed.

It has affected the life  of each and every citizen in Poland.

I think we've adapted to these changes  over these two decades.

Xavier Delcourt, is this enough  to explain the Polish phenomenon?

We saw that amongst  other new countries in the EU,

The Baltic States  saw their banking systems collapse.

how Poland wasn't apparently hit  by the financial crisis.

One of the reasons would be the policy  led by the Polish Central Bank,

which put in place regulations...  Yes, the national Central Bank.

It put in place regulations which allowed  markets to avoid the crisis.

is how Polish people  resisted taking out loans,

and the temptation to have a higher  standard of living through borrowing,

and how Poland resisted  the real estate craze.

I think our ministers closely studied  the mistakes made elsewhere

and tried to avoid  making the same mistakes.

There was huge opposition  to this policy

which was very careful  to avoid spending too much

This policy was fiercely criticised  in Poland, but during the crisis

or because of its strong position,  should it stay out of the euro?

First, so far, Poland has chosen to go  down the route which leads to the euro.

and in terms of meeting  the Maastricht criteria.