The aim of this contribution is a comparative analysis of the challenges Poland and Greece (and more broadly - CEE-10 and GIPS countries) had to face in the past as latecomers to the European Union and are facing now, in the aftermath of the world financial and economic crisis of 2008-09.

This article aims to answer the question of whether a membership in the European Union contributed to an accelerated economic growth of eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE or EU11) countries, including their real convergence to the economic development level of Western Europe (EU15). The...