Three facts about the EU economy

#126

My Dear Friend of Democracy,

Today, just some basic figures about the economy in the European Union. No details, just a broad picture based on three numbers.

• Two-thirds of all trade of EU countries takes place between member states. Why this large share? Because exchanging goods and services within the European Union is easy (no customs duties or goods controls).

• The European Union is quite an economic power. The bloc generates a fifth of global output, ranking second behind the United States.

• The economically weaker states' catching-up process is progressing steadily. Twenty years ago, ten countries joined the European Union. At that time, these ten states accounted for just under 10 per cent of the economic output of the 15 existing bloc members. Since then, the growth rates of the new members have almost always consistently exceeded (exception was the financial crisis in 2008/09) those of the old members.
  

  (I have included a chart below from the economic journal “Wirtschaftsdienst” that shows these growth rates; to be more precise, it shows the growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in the EU15 and EU10 countries.)

✊ I know that there can be a lot of critical things to say about the economy in the European Union; however, there are also fundamentally positive developments. The two most important are a functioning internal market and a convergence of prosperity between the EU states. So, good reasons exist to advocate for an ongoing (economic) integration at the European level.

See you in Europe,

Johannes