Dominik Hierlemann experienced first-hand what it means to opt for the EU in 2004. In the year that Poland became a member of the EU, the now 47-year-old lived and completed his doctorate there. Accession changed the country enormously: „Life in Poland was completely different back then. We in Western Europe often don’t understand how great the transformation of the Central Eastern European countries is and what that means for the people.“ It was therefore with great interest that he looked at Poland in mid-October when the political center around Donald Tusk prevailed in the parliamentary elections.