Eastern European Economies

Marcus Goncalves, Erika Cornelius Smith

• Publisher: Business Expert Press
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781631574009
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business Communication
• Index: Business

Nearly seven decades ago, six countries in Western Europe (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) decided to take economic cooperation to the next level. The vision of the EU founding states, epitomized by the Schuman Declaration in 1950, was to tie their economies so closely together that war would become impossible. Robert Schuman, author of the plan, believed Europe could not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It would have to be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity. The countries within the ÒEuropean CommunityÓ benefited enormously from free trade and common economic policies, in particular structural funds designed to foster convergence by funding infrastructure and investments in poorer regions. This book examines how similar transitions and integration into the European Union are experienced in individual central and eastern European states through the use of country scans in the regional blocks of CEE, SEE, and CIS.

CHAPTER 1

The European Context for Integration and Accession

Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements, which first create a de facto solidarity.

—Robert Schuman

Overview

Nearly seven decades ago, six countries in Western Europe (Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands) decided to take economic cooperation to the next level. The vision of the European Union (EU) founding states, epitomized by the Schuman Declaration in 1950, was to tie their economies—including the re-emerging West German economy—so closely together that war would become impossible.

In 1973, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined what was then referred to as the “European Community.” The period of 1970s was also a decade of deep social and political transformations in Greece, Portugal, and Spain, where military regimes and dictatorships were overthrown. Inspired by the prosperity and stability of the European Community, these countries joined the European project within 10 years, strengthening their emerging democracies. The countries benefited enormously from free trade and common economic policies, in particular structural funds designed to foster convergence by funding infrastructure and investments in poorer regions.

Despite these significant cooperative achievements, the most significant episode in Europe’s postwar political and economic integration was symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall. A defining moment in the collapse of the centrally planned economic systems of the 1980s, the collapse of the Wall and the Soviet Union ushered in a multifaceted process of liberalization.

On one hand, the fall of communism broke countries apart, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, followed in 1993 by the “Velvet Divorce” of the Czech and Slovak Republics. On the other hand, less than a year after the Berlin Wall came down, East and West Germany reunified. More than 20 countries emerged from communism in a new, more democratic Europe. The integration of these states presented the greatest opportunities and also the greatest challenges of the post-World War II era. In this context, this chapter provides the reader with an introduction to the broader context of European integration and accession, with special attentions to economic, political, and social challenges across the region. It concludes with a series of short case studies that introduce the reader to the process of transition in the individual Central and Eastern European (CEE) states.

The Effects of History and Geography on Regional Identity

As depicted in Figure 1.1, several scholars writing about the CEE regions are faced with the unique challenge of identifying and “naming” a series of states in the process of “a return to Europe.” Some who study the region suggest that the “English language lacks an appropriate and widely acceptable collective name” for the regions that form the Balkans and East Central Europe.¹ In German language, for example, they are referred to as Zwischeneuropa (in between Europe). Global political and economic integration, as well as redefined political communities within each state, present new opportunities to construct communities of belonging. Katalin Fábián² writes,

The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as several stateless people, divided sub-regions, and ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities (the Russian territory between Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, or Muslims in Bulgaria, for example) keenly illustrate how previously submerged political and cultural identities can re-emerge and ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Chapter 1. The European Context for Integration and Accession
• Chapter 2. The Role of the European Union in Eastern European Economies
• Chapter 3. Eastern Europe Regional Bloc: CEE and CIS
• Chapter 4. The Economic Impact of Integration
• Chapter 5. Challenges for Entering Eastern European Markets
• Chapter 6. Political Risk in Eastern Europe
• Chapter 7. Future Considerations and Challenges
• Appendix A: A Brief Scanning of the CEE Countries
• Appendix B: A Brief Scanning of the CIS Countries
• Endorsements
• References
• Index
• Adpage