The aim of this article is to show trends concerning the balances of payments of the ‘old’ and new Euro Area (EA) countries. The research problem pertains to the differences in evolution of the Current Account (CA) balances between the two EA groups. The determinants of the CA based on the absorption approach to the balance of payments. The following hypothesis has been posed and confirmed: the differences among the balances of the CA in the EA countries in the pre-crisis period were determined by the investment rates, as functions of the expected economic growth. Whereas, during the crisis and in the post-crisis period, a far greater influence on the CAs was exerted by the fiscal policy, exemplified by public savings. This policy was also adopted as a measure of alleviating the effects of the economic shocks spurred by the 2007 crisis in the USA. The adopted research method consisted of a statistical data analysis with the use of dynamics indicators, as well as a literature study of the balance of payments theories.