Poland and Ukraine: a tale of two economies

In 1990 the economies of Poland and the Ukraine seemed pretty similar: both were populous, one a former Soviet state and one a Soviet client state. Both shared a legacy of uncompetitive, ineffi cient Soviet heavy industry, environmental degradation and poor physical infrastructure. Why have the two countries fared so differently since being freed from communist control? Partly, because they were less similar than they seemed and partly because Poland was treated by the EU, Russia and the US as a sovereign country with the right to determine its own future. Ukraine was not. The EU finally needs to fulfil its moral obligation to Ukraine: to treat it like any other sovereign country trying to escape Russia's grasp.

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