Celebrating 20 years of Poland’s membership to the EU

This week, 10 member states, many of which are Ukraine's neighbours, are celebrating their 20th anniversary in the EU. For these countries, EU accession has led to significant restructuring of their economies, creating new comparative advantages and reducing the carbon intensity of national industries. In this context, we outline the shifts in the export structure of Ukraine's largest EU neighbour - Poland.

The graph below illustrates how EU integration and related economic transformation have led to a notable increase in the share of higher value added machinery and services in Poland's overall export structure while maintaining a high degree of export diversification.

A comparative chart of Ukraine's export structure over the same period reveals a different trend: the extremely high share of metals has been replaced by agriculture, with a sharp decline in machinery exports.

In the Green Deal Ukraїna project, we are committed to supporting Ukraine's integration into the EU and reforming its national economy.