I'm surprised at this thread title, when i was in poland i knew of plenty of poles looking to move to germany for work.
I really do wonder what kind of people you were hanging out with, as anyone that wanted to work in Germany already was. It's not a big secret that Poles were simply opening up their own businesses (and thus - no work permit needed) in Poland and merely invoicing a German company. I have a friend who was doing just that with Nokia.
The formal opening of the market was just that, a formality. Anyone who wanted to work abroad was working - they certainly weren't waiting for the labour market to open in Germany/Austria. If they were, it's unlikely that they were actually going to move, given the ease of getting round the law.
The current Polish brain drain comes at cost to the Polish tax payer, these people have been educated for free in Poland, there needs to be a law passed, ensuring that those educated at the tax payers expense give something back to their financial sponsors, in this case the country.
Oh yes. There must be something done about this, along with the vast amount of women who work for a couple of years and then quit working because of some sniffling brats that need looking after. When you think about how much money is wasted on educating people who don't do anything in return - it's frightening.
So please explain, how the EU laws work in favor of PL, I am really intrigued at this one.
The Erasmus programme is one huge benefit, for instance.