On the basis of field studies and subsurface data, this first balanced transect crosses most of the Carpathian foreland basin and the entire Polish Western Carpathian thrust units (Outer flysch nappes, Pieniny Klippen Belt, and Inner Carpathian Tatric thrust sheets). It shows that (1) the Outer Carpathians are made up of several flysch units whose internal structure is strongly controlled by initial thicknesses, whereas the thin flysch successions are strongly deformed by tight folds and include several imbricated thrust sheets; by contrast, the thick flysch successions are less deformed and accreted in slightly imbricated thrust sheets; and (2) the Inner Carpathians are structured in an antiformal stack of basement thrust sheets. The unfolding of this cross section shows that the post-middle Oligocene shortening in the European foreland platform and Outer Carpathians exceeds 180 km. In the substratum, most of this shortening seems to be solved by basement consumption vertically beneath the suture zone of the Pieniny Klippen Belt. Additional basement shortening took place also (1) in the Inner Carpathians, where, during the Neogene, buried basement thrust sheets were piled up to form an antiformal stack, and (2) beneath the inner zones of the Outer Carpathians. Palinspastic restoration of the cross section reflects two well-differentiated zones prior to the late Oligocene-late Miocene compression: (1) the present Inner Carpathians and the Pieniny Klippen Belt, characterized by a Late Cretaceous thrust belt uncomformably overlain by an undeformed Palaeogene cover, and (2) the Outer flysch Carpathians, in which pre-upper Oligocene configuration comprised a typical foreland basin flexed toward the SSW, with a system of NW trending highs and troughs. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995