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Book abstract:
The forthcoming enlargement of the EU to the East embracing the former Soviet dominated countries of central and eastern Europe is perhaps the most challenging enterprise of the EU to date. The cultural impact alone is a huge challenge but the economic aspect will prove the greatest. About 100 million people are to be integrated but the existing income gap between the two halves of Europe means that the overall GDP of the EU will rise by only 5 per cent after enlargement.
This work studies the consequences of Eastern enlargement placing particular emphasis on the technical barriers to trade. Contributors to the work comprise researchers from both EU and Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). There has already been huge progress in the removal of tariff barriers across Europe and further tariff reduction offers small prospects of increasing trade. The argument offered in chapter three is that the accession of CEECs to the Single Market will have significant effects on trade, foreign direct investment and welfare in Europe, both at the aggregate and sectoral level. Chapters two and four address the importance of distinguishing industrial sectors in accordance with the practice adopted in the EU to the removal of technical barriers to trade. The problems arising from the differences in standards and technical regulations in four of the CEECs are subjected to comparative analysis in chapter five, and later chapters present detailed studies of those four countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Chapter six pleads the case for the Balkan countries whilst chapter seven shows the progress already made by the more advanced of the CEECs - Hungary. Chapter eight explores the situation in Poland and Slovakia is examined in chapter nine.
The book will interest students and academics engaged in European studies, researchers, and policy makers in the fields of international relations and the economics of EU enlargement.
Paul Brenton is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Trade Policy Unit at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, Belgium.
Stefano Manzocchi is Professor of International Economics at the University of Perugia, Italy.
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