Press release No. 277 of 18 July 2024
- In May 2004, ten east European countries acceded to the EU; foreign trade with these countries has recorded above-average growth since then
- From January to May 2024, Poland was Germany's fifth most important trading partner, behind France and ahead of Italy
- Most important goods in trade with the countries of the first EU eastern enlargement: motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers, machinery, electrical equipment and chemical products
WIESBADEN – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czechia, Hungary and Cyprus acceded to the European Union (EU) and the common economic area on 1 May 2004. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reports that trade with the ten countries of the first phase of EU eastern enlargement has recorded above-average growth since then. In 2003, the year before the countries' accession, Germany imported goods to the total value of 57.6 billion euros from there and exported goods to the total value of 56.6 billion euros to these countries. This means that the ten countries of the first EU eastern enlargement accounted for 10.8% of all German imports and for 8.5% of German exports in 2003.
