Poland's Integration with the European Union and Its Imlication for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises

The development of SMEs is very sensitive to the overall economic situation of every country such as the dynamics of economic growth, stability of the local currency, supply and demand on the home and foreign markets and the state’s micro-economic policy. This paper discusses the SME development in Poland since its accession to the EU in 2004. In this context, the authors examine the question of whether the SME development policies following Poland’s integration into the EU has contributed positively to the sustainable development of the Polish economy– we examine whether the country`s accession into the EU has created a better environment for entrepreneurship development than it was in the pre-accession phase. In this paper, we attempt to provide answers to three key questions: (1) What were the main specific adjustments necessary to accession requirements? (2) What are the main opportunities for Polish SMEs arising out of EU membership? (3) What kind of progress has been made in the SME sector after Poland’s accession into the EU? Considering the research problem the authors have reviewed the academic literature in search of a theoretical background and conducted the analyses based on state statistical data.