In Rome, Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin held a meeting with Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, the President of the Italian Senate and the Ministers: Luigi Di Maio – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Giancarlo Giorgetti – Minister of Economic Development.

Italy is an important economic partner of Poland, and at the same time the third economy in the European Union and the euro area. In 2020, the Polish-Italian trade overturn amounted to EUR 21.5 billion, and there has been a 34% increase in the initial four months of 2021. The good dynamics of growth in mutual business relations does not however exhaust the potential and the possibilities of the Polish-Italian cooperation. In addition, Italy is also our important partner in the discussion on the future of Europe. That is why, one of the aims of my visit was to emphasize the value of Poland as an important partner for Italy and engaging in a dialogue with respect to the key European policies regarding trade and industrial policy as well as the European Neighbourhood Policy.

– the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Economic Development, Labour and Technology Jarosław Gowin remarks.

During the conversations in Rome, significant time was dedicated to strategic autonomy of the EU. The Polish Deputy Minister in charge of economic affairs believes that, considering the pandemic which undermined the feeling of security in both businesses and consumers, EU Member States must join together to establish a concrete strategic autonomy of the EU which is going to make the European community resilient to future crises and allow to shorten the value chains, and help to facilitate the EU's strategic interests in trade with third countries. Autonomy should not mean the new protectionism and closure, but balance and increased possibilities of carrying out transformations based on our own, European technologies and production. In the process of building strategic autonomy, we must observe and strengthen the transatlantic relations and perceive it as a method for the empowerment of the EU international position in times of increased geopolitical rivalry and challenges faced by multilateralism.

In the perception of the Polish government, a single, uniform market without barriers should constitute the pillar of EU’s strategic autonomy and establishing its competitiveness.

During the conversation with my counterpart, Minister of Economic Development Giancarlo Giorgetti, we fully agreed that strengthening the common market is the basic task during the reconstruction and the best investment in the future of the EU. Further integration of the common market, in particular in the services sector continues to remain our priority. We see the need for an increased involvement of the European Commission and all the Member States in the elimination of barriers on national and EU level. For this purpose, I proposed to establish a Polish-Italian Working Party for the liquidation of access barriers for the business owners in both countries to the Polish and Italian Markets

– Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin explained.

The Polish and Italian Ministers of Economic Development have also discussed the issues related to the competitiveness of the European economy. Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin believes that public support granted through “tailor-made” instruments is critical for the European industry to become a leader of environmental and digital transitions. The state aid rules applicable in the EU should be therefore flexible enough and take into consideration the key areas for effective transformation of the economy. That is why, the Polish government believes in the importance of updating one tools for the implementation of EU industrial policy – the principles for granting state aid.

While in Rome, The Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin and Deputy Minister Grzegorz Piechowiak, who serves as the Government’s Plenipotentiary for Investments, have also held meetings with Polish entrepreneurs which are active in the Italian market and the representatives of Confindustrii, an Italian organisation of employers and industry.

The Italian presence in the key branches of the economy, such as defence, automotive, home appliance or food industry is of strategic importance to us. However, the reforms carried out in the recent years have expanded the scope of instruments used in support of investments, which is currently aimed at more ambitious positioning in supply chains. In addition to the intensification of trade in goods, our important goal involves the support of Polish-Italian cooperation in key sectors. These include the space, defence and pharmaceutical sectors

– Grzegorz Piechowiak, Deputy Minister for Development, Labour and Technology stresses.

Economic relations between Poland and Italy

In 2020, Italy remained 5th among Poland's trading partners in exports.
In 2020, Polish exports to Italy amounted to EUR 10,265,4 billion, accounting for 4.3% of total Polish exports. Compared to 2019, it has decreased by 5%. This is the first decline in exports since 2011. Beginning in 2012, Polish exports to Italy display an upwards dynamic trend (from EUR 6.95 billion to EUR 10.812 billion in 2019)

In 2020, Italy has become the 3rd Polish trading partner in terms of imports (in 2019, the country held 4th position). In 2020, Polish imports from Italy amounted to €11.246.8 billion, accounting for 5.0% of total Polish imports. Furthermore, it has decreased, by 6% compared to 2019.

Trade with Italy is characterised by a negative trade balance, which decreased from EUR 1.412 billion in 2018 to EUR 856.2 million in 2019. However, it has grown to EUR 981 million in 2020.

Our main exports to the Italian market include: passenger cars (approximately 6% share in 2020), car parts and accessories (5.5%), reception apparatus for television, monitors, video projectors (3.5%), cigarettes (3.4%), fresh or chilled beef (2.7%) and spark ignition internal combustion engines (2.6%).

On the other hand, our imports from Italy include mainly: crude platinum (4.3% share in 2020), car parts and accessories (4% share in 2020), trucks (3%), compound medicines prepared for retail sale (2.5%), rolled products of iron or non-alloy steel (1.8%), pipes, tubes and profiles – open seamed or riveted (1.8%) and human blood, animal blood, vaccines, toxins (1.7%).

With regard to Polish exports, 2020 showed the largest declines in exports of passenger cars to Italy – from EUR 861.9 million in 2019 to EUR 611.4 million in 2020 (down 39%), car parts and accessories – from 659.4 million in 2019 to 567.2 million in 2020 (down 14%) and internal combustion engines – from EUR 307.4 million in 2019 to EUR 268.7 million in 2020 (down 13%).

The greatest increases in Polish exports were recorded for: human blood, vaccines (1422%), dress patterns (355%), binders for casting moulds (318%), ready-made animal feed (268%), raw platinum (243%), buses and microbuses (240%), electric batteries (230%).