Progress towards meeting the economic criteria for accession: The assessments of the 2008 Progress Reports

In this Occasional Paper the Directorate General for Economic and Financial Affairs brings together into a single document the economic chapters of the 2008 Progress Reports on progress made towards meeting the accession criteria of each candidate and potential candidate country. The European
Commission adopted these Reports on 5 November 2008.

This introduction explains the methodology underlying these Reports that the Commission has been following since 1997 in order to carry out these assessments.

The purpose of this Occasional Paper is to facilitate the work of those scholars, researchers and analysts of the enlargement process, who are mainly interested in the economic aspects. As such, it represents only a part of the overall progress made by the candidate and potential candidate countries towards meeting the accession criteria.

A proper full-fledged assessment of progress made under all
examined aspects can be found in the 2008 Progress Reports.