"When a lot of little things come together, they can become a big problem", Zbyszek Perczyna, who, together with his wife Kamila Gierko, has decided to return from Germany to Poland, told the German public broadcaster ARD.
They have a good job and a good income, but they want to return
Perczyna jokingly says that he has overcome all obstacles so far because he comes from a nation known for its talent for improvisation. In Germany, he organizes international exhibitions, and his wife Kamila works as a translator. Both are self-employed. They have good jobs and earn well, but they still want to return to Poland. They are looking for a small house in the outskirts of Warsaw and know that they will quickly get a loan - something common in Poland, while in Germany they were not even given a car lease contract due to insufficient financial reliability, despite their high income. In Poland, they managed to arrange the lease over the phone - in 8 minutes.
Back to Poland after five years in Berlin
Jacek Denel also returned to Warsaw after less than five years in Berlin. At the time, he left Poland because of homophobia among parts of society, but also for political reasons. Denel is a writer and openly homosexual, married to his partner. When he arrived in Berlin, he highly appreciated the liberal openness of the city. The state, however, sobered him up.
"I have the feeling that Germany is not functioning when it comes to ensuring the quality of everyday life," says Denell, referring, for example, to the fact that special requests have to be submitted for everything, the services are too bureaucratic, and are often not accessible digitally.
The writer can talk at length about his disputes with various services, which in most cases ended with things never being clarified. Or that the solution was to resubmit the same request every quarter. And when he spoke in English, he invariably encountered difficulties, Denell tells ARD.
His impression is that German society is used to things happening this way and sees it as something normal. The fights with various services are a daily occurrence, and the tax system is too complicated, Denel complains, adding: "And everyone perceives this as a part of life that goes without saying". Ultimately, it was the struggle with German bureaucracy that caused him and his husband to decide to return to Poland.
Poland attracts with its economic boom
The writer shared with the German media that in Poland, unlike Germany, there is a feeling of "constant growth, improvement, modernization, simplification and optimization of the workday".
At least when it comes to economic growth, the numbers confirm his impression, writes ARD. Since 2015, Poland has regularly recorded annual growth of about 5%. And Germany's record for this decade is 2.7%, and that was eight years ago.
Since the early 1980s, migration from Poland to Germany has been intense - tens of thousands more people arrive each year than leave. But that is clearly no longer the case: the Federal Statistical Office reports a minus of 11,239 people as the balance for last year.
Poles will be missing from the German labor market
According to Nils Witte of the Federal Institute for Population Research, this is a logical consequence of developments in the neighboring country - and in economic terms, these developments are better than in Germany. "This is something that is actually desired in the European Union - for the markets to gradually equalize," says Witte. And that's exactly what's happening - the Polish economy is catching up with the German one.
"The number of people leaving Germany for Poland has remained constant. The change is that fewer Poles are coming to Germany," explains Witte.
This trend is worrying German employers because Poles have been helping to fill jobs in a number of industries for years - for example, in caring for the sick and the elderly, in construction and in many other areas.
André Fritsche from the Cottbus Chamber of Industry and Commerce told ARD that it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract Polish workers. "Poland is currently in 20th place in the world in terms of economic indicators. The country has definitely become an attractive place and more and more people want to come back."
Author: André Karchal (ARD)