Subregional economic cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe. The political economy of CEFTA

Book abstract:

Subregional economic cooperation has constituted an important, yet relatively unexplored, aspect of the quest by central and eastern European states to make the transition from integration in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance to full EU membership.

The author, Martin Dangerfield, provides a comprehensive and in-depth study of what has clearly been the most important initiative in this respect, the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). He examines the origins, aims, objectives and structure of CEFTA as well as assessing the main results of the cooperation so far. Analysis is included on the economic and political impact of CEFTA and on its role as a pre-accession instrument to the EU. He also discusses integration-deepening in the CEFTA context, the debate over institutionalization and the CEFTA enlargement process. The final part of the book examines the future viability of CEFTA in the context of the process of eastward expansion of the EU. At the end of the book, the appendices include some extracts from various official CEFTA documents and further details of the Czech-Slovak customs union which operates inside CEFTA. There is also a collection of statistical tables which offer a comprehensive picture of each of the member countries' trade within CEFTA.

This book will be a valuable addition to the existing literature in the area, appealing to academics and researchers in European and transition studies.

Martin Dangerfield is Senior Lecturer in Contemporary European Studies in the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences at the University of Wolverhampton.