The enlargement of the European Union towards the East from May 2004 has generated an increase of about 100 million inhabitants in the EU population, and has especially brought along major challenges and important opportunities both for the "new" countries and for the "old" member states. That is the main focus of this volume, which is divided into three sections. The first analyses the effects of the enlargement on the functioning of Community institutions, on the relations with the other Eastern European countries, and finally on regional and global economic dynamics; the second section analyses in detail the role of the monetary politics of the European Central Bank and the activities of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; and the third deals with the importance of the entrepreneurial class in ensuring the success of the transition process of the Eastern European economies.

Europe's economic and political landscape is changing dramatically. The demise of the socialist CMEA and the USSR has allowed eastern European economies to open up and caused Russia/the CIS to engage in a series of difficult reforms which have been supported by the G-7 and the International Monetary Fund plus the World Bank on the one hand, and, on the other hand, by the EU and the EBRD. While some of the (early) Visegrad countries apparently were rather successful in their transition attempt, systemic transition approaches in other countries - Romania and Bulgaria - and, above all, in Russia largely were a failure. Economic hardship, social unrest, political radicalization and the international spreading of criminal activities can be identified as problems from the failure of Russia's first transition attempt. This book deals - from an international perspective - with the postsocialist countries in Europe, i. e. there is a focus on eastern enlargement and on Russia on the one hand, on the other hand the topic is which international influences and effects will emerge from EU enlargement and the Russian transition. While chapter A exclusively deals with major problems of eastern enlargement and the policy options for dealing with this difficult problem, chapter B is devoted to the Russian transformation crisis. There the analysis has a focus on Russia in its own right but also on the potential negative spillovers of a Russian transformation disaster which could occur in the late 1990s.

Learn more about the transitional economies of Central and Eastern Europe! This book examines the economic dynamics of Central and Eastern European post-Communist countries. It illuminates the paths these countries are taking toward restructuring their markets, increasing international trade, and bettering their connections with the European Union and other countries. Beginning with a comparative analysis of the three “P-governments”—Pigouvian, Partizan, and Paternalistic—and continuing with a discussion of the interrelated political and economic difficulties of transition, author Bruno Sergi proposes a surprising solution. Inspired by the Bruxelles consensus, he proposes that the European Commission should become a fourth “P-government,” replacing the role formerly played by the Washington consensus in the restructuring of post-Communist economies. Economic Dynamics in Transitional Economies also explores: regional comparative macroeconomics the aftereffects of the Washington Consensus integration of Eastern and Western European economies interrelations between national and regional monetary activity political and economic policy reform involvement of European Union member countries We are living in historic times, and Economic Dynamics in Transitional Economies will be a welcome guide to the rough roads ahead. This thorough assessment of current political and economic realities will stimulate debate about new European paradigms, the role of the European Union, and the difficulties of post-Communist transition. These issues promise to be vital to the region’s success in the new century.

This book is a study of EU conditionality and compliance during the enlargement to the Central and Eastern European candidate countries. EU conditionality for membership is widely understood as having been a driving force for Europeanization, providing incentives and sanctions for compliance or non-compliance with EU norms, such as the 'Copenhagen Criteria' and the adoption of the acquis communautaire . By taking regional policy and regionalization as a case study, this book provides a comparative analysis of the effects of conditionality on the Central and East European countries and explores the many paradoxes and weaknesses in the use of EU conditionality over time.

This volume brings together contributions on the major economic policy issues which have opened up as a result of the immanent process of European Union Enlargement. The issues analyzed range from modelling and analyzing the costs and benefits of enlargement, to challenges for macroeconomic policy both at the EU level and in the new member countries to the state of affairs in the new member countries with respect to sectoral policy reforms such as those undertaken in the financial sector and in competition policy, and the impact of enlargement on Europe's trade policy agenda.

What will joining the EU mean for the new Eastern member states and their economies? This book offers a detailed study of the macroeconomic and structural adjustment burden. It envisages a real currency appreciation stemming from price convergence, capital inflows and weak structural change. The widespread belief that an Eastern enlargement of the Union would be overwhelmingly to the detriment of the present EU (budgetary costs, locational decisions, trade deficits) is rejected. The authors discuss the lack of competitiveness of Eastern countries and their need for structural adjustments (in the financial sector, in agriculture, and in manufacturing) in order for them to survive and thrive in their new economic environment.

First published in 1998, this volume's approach is intended to be positive rather than normative and to identify criteria for evaluating which countries should join and the probable consequences of EU enlargement, along with the effects of temporary exclusion from the EU. It is a revised and enlarged version of a background paper first presented at the May 1997 meeting of the European University Institute Working Group on Eastern Enlargement, and published as a European University Institute working paper. Enlargement is widely considered to be the way to spread stability, prosperity and security eastward, and has been agreed to by the Union for that end. Susan Senior Nello is responsible for the economic content of this book, with Karen Smith heading the political and institutional aspects.