This report has been requested by the European Commission from the OMAS Consortium (OMAS). It is based on a detailed analysis of (Monitoring and Assessment) documentation produced by OMAS from 1996 to 2001, in particular, summaries from the Country Assessment Reviews (CARs) in relation to the...

This report is one of a series of six Ad Hoc and Thematic Reports which the OMAS Consortium is preparing. Its objectives are, firstly, “to assist the Candidate Countries in meeting the short and medium term challenges for accession, through analysis of OMAS experience of Monitoring and...

This thematic report examines the extent to which Phare Programmes have achieved their Civil Society objectives. The purpose of the report is to providing a tool to support those responsible, in the Commission Services as well as in the 10 Candidate Countries (CC), for the design and...

This is one of six Thematic Reports which the OMAS Consortium is preparing. Its purpose is to identify issues where improvement appears desirable in relation to the Twinning Instrument, and to stimulate debate on constructive approaches to the operation of Twinning for the future. The report, as...

This paper presents evidence for structural differences in economic growth dynamics between the current EU and the central- and eastern European accession countries. Two important results emerge from the analysis. First, accession countries have posted higher average growth and wider output...

The paper analyses the evolution of the trade specialisation pattern in the ten countries which will join the EU in 2004, by studying the dynamics of their comparative advantages over the period 1993-2000. The study finds that, although some countries are still broadly relying on natural...

We quantify the degree of persistence in unemployment rates of transition countries using a variety of methods benchmarked against the EU. In part of the paper, we work with the concept of linear u0093Hysteresisu0094 as described by the presence of unit roots in unemployment. Since this is...

This report provides an overview of the state of air quality in 13 central and eastern European countries involved in the European Union's Phare Programme. Based on EUROAIRNET monitoring network data for 1997 as reported by these countries, it also provides information on emission sources and...

The paper extends the standard intertemporal model of the current account to include two important stylised facts: (1) the persistence of current account positions and (2) the relevance of the fiscal balance. Specifically, the paper derives a closed form solution for consumption in the presence...

This paper deals with the discussion in Germany about job exports to the low-cost Eastern European members of the EU. It states that the critics of EU enlargement in Germany have overlooked that Eastern and Western Europe strongly differ in their capital formation and productivity levels. The...