The Centenary of Poland's Independence. A Note on Infrastructure Convergence[Pour le centième anniversaire de l’indépendance en Pologne : note sur la convergence en termes d’infrastructures]

Poland plays an important role in the European Union. After many years of occupation until regaining the independence in 1918, in its long history, Poland is now a bridge between Western Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States and Ukraine. The country is largely benefiting from this situation: Poland is the first beneficiary of the EU Cohesion Policy funds, well ahead of Italy and Spain (Appendix 1). New roads are being built, railway tracks are being renovated, city centers and other degraded districts are being revitalized. Polish countryside and the main cities are flourishing. In the field of transport infrastructure, the paper shows that the regional policy of the European Union has reduced the original inequalities in the rail and road infrastructure development inherited from the Partitions of Poland between Prussia, Austria and Russia. With regard to the railway infrastructure, we notice that track closures is also significant in this convergence. The paper also indicates a problem with the accessibility of medium-sized towns that lost their status of a voivodeship capital in 1999. One of the functional problems of these cities, apart from the demographic and financial problems, is their poor road and rail accessibility. The paper is then expressing some critics on the model of polarization-diffusion model in the European regional development policy, especially for Eastern Poland which is not so much benefiting from the regional policy of the EU. In conclusion, convergence towards the EU average still occurs in Poland.