Poland World Political and Economic Geography Metropolitan University Prague Martin Kolmhofer, Ph.D.

2. The Balcerowicz Plan , also termed "Shock Therapy", was a method for rapidly transitioning
from a communist economy, based on state ownership and central planning, to
a capitalist market economy. Named for its author, the Polish minister and economist Leszek
Balcerowicz, the plan was adopted in Poland in 1989.

3. Between 2007 and 2015, Poland will be the EU’s largest recipient of funding, receiving €67
billion ($90 billion) in total from the EU’s budget. The country’s infrastructure remains
inadequate. Poland’s highway and aviation network are in need of expansion and
modernization.

4. Money transfers from abroad have become an integral element of Poland's economy.

5. Trade is heavily geared towards the European Union—neighboring Germany is Poland’s
main trading partner.

6. German–Polish relations have historically been difficult but are steadily improving. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought to reassure Poland that she wants good relations
and will not neglect Warsaw in favor of Moscow. (Gerhard Schroeder, who was seen by
Poles as too close to Russia and critical of the US)

7. The Katyn massacre, was a mass execution of 22,000 Polish Officers and
intellectual leaders carried out by the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940.
Soviet Russia only admitted to the atrocity in 1990 after blaming the Nazis for five
decades.

8. Polish soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. During the War in
South Ossetia in 2008, Poland strongly supported Georgia.

9. Russia has threatened to target Nato bases hosting an anti-missile system designed by the US to
protect European allies against attack from states such as Iran.
Russia would counter Nato deployment by stationing short-range Iskander missiles in the Russian
Kaliningrad exclave near Poland, creating the worst military tensions since the Cold War.

11. HISTORY OF POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC THOUGHT

12. FINANCIAL MARKETS: THE CITY OF LONDON

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