As evidenced by the latest surveys published by Eurostat, the EU balance of payments account recorded a positive surplus of €21,8 billion during the first quarter of 2013, against a deficit of 7,7 billion in the same period last year. From one year to the next, the main changes are represented by trade in goods, which went from a deficit of 32,8 billion to +0,8 billion, a timid slowdown in trade in services (+29,8 billion against +31,2 billion), as well as in the interest account (+11,9 billion from +12,2), while the deficit on transfers is increasing, went from -18,3 billion to -20,7 billion.
In this context, Eurostat announced the updates related to thetrade in goods and services between the EU and Russia, on the occasion of the XXXI Summit between the two trading partners in question. Over the past four years, European exports to Russia recorded continuously increasing values, reaching a peak of 123 billion in 2012. Imports, However, they followed the same course, reaching a record 213 billion in the same year, leading the trade deficit to rise from 52 billion in 2009 to 90 billion in 2012. And all this by virtue of the still massive flow of hydrocarbons from the Russian market (75% of the total imported), only partially offset by EU exports of goods and services, dominated by manufactured goods, which make Russia the third largest trading partner after the USA and China.
Taking a look at the individual European countries, the main exporting partners are represented in order by Germany (31%), Italy (8%) and France (7%). At the same time, the major importers include Germany (19%), the Netherlands (14%), Poland (10%) and Italy (9%), while the heaviest deficits concern the Netherlands (-21,1 billion), Poland ( -13,8 billion) and Italy (-8,3 billion). Emphasizing, once again, how much, without an adequate and timely rethinking, the energy variable is a fundamental factor in influencing the efficiency and sustainability of trade policies at both national and Community level, with the inevitable repercussions that this could have on the balance of the political and economic arena in the not too distant future.
