Poland and Hungary have had a testy relationship with the European Union. Their national economies have benefited enormously since joining the bloc in 2004, but in recent years, both countries have elected right-wing leaders that have defied Brussels by cracking down on judges and the news media, refusing to take in migrants and lashing out at the European Union as elitist and antidemocratic.

Leaders like Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of Poland’s ruling party, and Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, are often in the news. We asked to hear from people living in these countries about how being part of the European Union has affected them, and nearly 2,000 responded. Below is a selection of their remarks, lightly edited, and in some cases translated from Polish and Hungarian.

A Bridge to Western Culture

“Joining the E.U. gave me a sense of security and a wonderful sense of belonging to western culture, something we had been craving living in the gloomy Eastern bloc. It was like opening a window and letting fresh air into a house that smelled of mustiness. The currently ruling Law and Justice party gained momentum when it started scaring people with terrorism and some diseases and parasites that refugees supposedly carry. They won the elections. They have divided Poland into two camps — those who want to help the war victims, and those who scream ‘Poland for Poles.’ Once again, I started smelling something musty and stale in the air.”

— Malgorzata Samplawska, 60, a retired teacher in Trzciniec, Poland.

Image Mateusz Mazzini

“I was born in Poland, but my family is bilingual, as my father is Italian. That is why I have always had multilevel identity — not a fully Italian one, not fully Polish either. When Poland entered the E.U. in 2004, I realized these two did not have to be mutually conflictive. I benefited in what I myself define as ‘normalization’ of an identity like mine. When Poland entered the E.U., people understood I could belong both here and in Italy.”

— Mateusz Mazzini, 27, Wroclaw, Poland, a doctoral candidate in sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences.