The aim of the paper is to assess the place of the European Union (and its individual countries) in the global value chain (GVC) in years 1995–2011. The analysis is mainly based on the index figure called the rate of participation in global value chain. It was calculated based on data drawn from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). GVC participation rate indicates the share of a country’s export that is a part of multi-stage trade process. It is composed of the foreign value added in a country’s own export (upward/backward linkages) and the value added supplied to other countries’ export (downward/forward linkages). The participation rate is a useful indicator of the extent to which a country’s export is integrated into international production networks. The research results show that the foreign value added share in the EU export increased by 9 p.p. in the period in question. The new EU member states experienced a notably greater growth in foreign value added share in export than the UE-15. The major beneficiaries were: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. The main reason for that progress was a dynamically growing participation of these countries in the production fragmentation process.

The aim of the paper is to assess the place of the European Union (and its individual countries) in the global value chain (GVC) in years 1995–2011. The analysis is mainly based on the index figure called the rate of participation in global value chain. It was calculated based on data drawn from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). GVC participation rate indicates the share of a country’s export that is a part of multi-stage trade process. It is composed of the foreign value added in a country’s own export (upward/backward linkages) and the value added supplied to other countries’ export (downward/forward linkages). The participation rate is a useful indicator of the extent to which a country’s export is integrated into international production networks. The research results show that the foreign value added share in the EU export increased by 9 p.p. in the period in question. The new EU member states experienced a notably greater growth in foreign value added share in export than the UE-15. The major beneficiaries were: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia. The main reason for that progress was a dynamically growing participation of these countries in the production fragmentation process.