Europe's Hidden Growth Champions Ignored by Policymakers

European policymakers have been focusing on how to make Europe's economy more like that of the US or China, but they are overlooking the fastest-growing members of the European Union, which are Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries.

The EU is deindustrializing and losing global market share, growing far slower than the US and China. If this trend continues, Europe's share of global GDP could soon return to levels seen in the Middle Ages.

Former ECB President Mario Draghi's 2024 competitiveness report offers a blueprint for reviving Europe's economic dynamism with three Is: invest, integrate, and innovate.

However, the report overlooks Poland's transformation and the reforms that turned Central European communist economies into dynamic examples of democratic capitalism. If Poland and other CEE countries were involved in updating the Draghi report, they might complement its three I's with their own three C's: converge, compete, and coordinate.

Convergence is a highly successful EU policy, with Poland increasing its GDP faster than South Korea and the 'Asian Tigers' over the past 35 years. Its income per capita has almost quadrupled since 1990, compared to a roughly 50% increase in the eurozone.