Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, spotlighted a changing economic narrative on February 6 when he shared a Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung piece headlined “The Poles Are Coming.” He noted how the phrase has evolved over three decades and added: “See how this phrase has changed over the past 30 years… Poland is coming to its senses.”
The article underscores a visible uptick in Polish acquisitions of Western companies, especially in Germany. Bloomberg data show Polish firms announced 22 acquisitions in Western Europe last year, a record number, with nine of those deals involving German targets.
Dominik Kopiński, senior advisor at the Polish Economic Institute and a professor at the University of Wroclaw, said such stories could mark a watershed in Polish-German economic relations. Two decades ago, when Poland first joined the EU, many would have found this reversal hard to imagine, he noted. A new generation of Polish leaders is less burdened by old stereotypes and more willing to pursue cross-border opportunities.
“If this continues, what we may be witnessing is not simply a series of transactions, but more a generational shift in how Polish firms see their place in Europe,” Kopiński said.
One active example is Spyrosoft Group, a Wroclaw-based mid-sized IT services company. Spyrosoft acquired Berlin-based embeddeers GmbH’s assets and operations, is finalizing another purchase in Germany, and in November 2025 bought Carimus, a digital services agency in North Carolina, US. Kevin Dabrowski, Spyrosoft’s senior marketing partner, said acquisitions are often necessary once organic growth slows.
“At a certain point, it’s very difficult for companies to grow organically, so they have to acquire,” Dabrowski said. With about 2,000 employees, Spyrosoft uses buyouts to accelerate growth, gain local clients and market footholds in Germany, the UK and the US, and build physical presences abroad.
Kopiński cautioned it may be too soon to call a sustained long-term trend, but he argued the momentum is overdue. More Polish firms embedding themselves across Europe is something the country should have pursued earlier, he said.
Poland’s recent surge is set against strong macroeconomic performance and ongoing convergence with Western Europe. Real GDP rose 3.6% year-on-year in 2025, roughly two percentage points above the EU average. Since joining the EU in 2004 Poland’s average annual growth has been close to 4%, accelerating over the last decade, while the domestic stock market has been buoyant.
A large and growing home market is central to this dynamic. “This is a big, fast-growing market, the sixth-largest economy in the EU, and for many Polish companies it brings food to the table,” Kopiński said. That domestic strength can reduce urgency to expand internationally; overseas deals require a different mindset and greater tolerance for risk.
Dabrowski also pointed to a perceptual shift in Poland’s IT sector. Where Poland was once widely viewed as a low-cost IT provider, that niche is increasingly associated with countries such as India. “We’re not really that market anymore because this perspective is switching to India,” he said.
Questions remain about whether outward foreign direct investment from Poland will eventually overtake inward flows. FDI into Poland fell in 2024, mirroring a broader European trend. Katarzyna Rzentarzewska, chief macro analyst for Central and Eastern Europe at Erste Group, cited rising labor costs, high energy prices and higher debt servicing after interest-rate increases as headwinds for capital inflows.
Poland has long been the region’s top FDI magnet, attracting roughly $400 billion since 1989. Kopiński suggested the recent wave of acquisitions might mark a long-anticipated turning point: mature economies often reach a tipping point where outward FDI accelerates and begins to match or exceed inward investment.
“We have been waiting rather impatiently for this take-off. It may well be that this chapter is now opening before our eyes,” he said.
Edited by: Andreas Becker