Jarmark Europa is a market that began trading in the late 1980s in the X-Lecia Stadium, which was built in 1955 to host sporting, cultural and propaganda events. The market is held in the top tier of the stadium, the car parks and access roads, and consists of thousands of provisional stalls, lean-tos andkiosks made from metal sheeting.
4,500 small businesses run by Poles, former citizens of the USSR and the countries of the Soviet bloc, as well as Asians and Africans, make it Europe’s biggest market. Most of the products are sourced from Asian countries, with a focus on footwear, clothing, cosmetics and electronic goods. Over the years, the media have contributed to giving the place a bad reputation, as if it were one of the world’s main trade hubs for illegal recordings, videotapes, pirate CDs and software, which together with the sale of contraband alcohol, cigarettes, fake brands, weapons, and cross-border trafficking would have an annual turnover of 12 billion zlotys.
This bad reputation is one of the main arguments in favour of dismantling the market and converting the stadium into a venue for the 2012 European Football Championships. This represents a major social and economic problem; indeed, the market provides employment for thousands of people around the country, and the taxes levied on the products sold provide a major source of income for the municipal coffers.