There is a referendum on the seventh and eight of June for Poles to decide if they want their country to become a member. Hungary and Slovakia recently voted in the affirmative, as did Lithuania some time ago, I believe.

In order for the referendum to be valid, there has to be at least a 50% voter turnout. Some of those opposed are not even going to vote “No” for fear of raising the voter frequency. (If the turnout is less than 50%, then the Sejm (parliament) decides. “At least we’ll know by name who’s responsible then,” said one opponent.)

There seems to be a chronic shortage of concrete information about the effects of joining the EU. The pro-EU placards posted everywhere have pictures of individuals with something vague like, “I’m voting ‘Yes’ because I want to have a better future,” written in a stylish, script-like font. Marketing. There are concrete advantages, to be sure: EU subsidies for farmers, the ability to work abroad legally (though after a waiting period for most EU countries), and so on. Other than that . . .

Opponents, on the other hand, distribute photocopied fliers with dire warnings about how the EU standards for television will allow godless, sexually perverted programs to flood Poland and create hedonistic egoists out of the younger generation. More marketing, without the big złoty backing.

Where do I stand on the issue? I think it would be foolish for Poland to remain out of the EU — Polska is no Switzerland, after all. The short-term disadvantages (namely, more expensive food and such) will eventually disappear. That’s the hope. As an American living here, though, membership won’t have the same advantages, I guess.

And of course, there’s always the concern that I’ll be living in the territory of the Beast Power of the Book of Revelation, which will rise up any day now and kick America’s immoral . . . or wait, is that the UN? I can never keep those fundamentalist prophecies straight . . .