Just over a month after joining the European Union, its new central and eastern European members have reported a strong economic start to the year, as their manufacturers cash in on an upturn in export markets.
Poland has led the pack among the four largest newcomers, with its gross domestic product expanding by 6.9 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter, its best performance in seven years.
Slovakia has reported a 5.5 per cent increase in first quarter GDP, Hungary 4.2 per cent and the Czech Republic 3.1 per cent - all comfortably outpacing the average 1.3 per cent expansion in the 12-nation euro zone.
The other countries that also joined the EU on May 1st included four other former communist countries - Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania -- and two Mediterranean islands - Cyprus and Malta.
Economists say that in some central and eastern European countries, notably Poland, growth early this year was boosted by a buying spree triggered by fears of EU-related tax and price increases and was set to taper off slightly later in the year.
Still the region remains poised to outpace the "old" EU this year and beyond mainly on the back of buoyant production and export growth, largely helped by a manufacturing upturn in Germany, Europe's biggest economy and the region's main market.