The paper deals with the effects of migration resulting from EU Eastern enlargement on the welfare states of Western … is a rational reaction of the state. The proposed new EU constitution which contains far-reaching rules for a European …

criteria implies extensive business cycle harmonization between CEECs and EU countries in the medium term …

We assess the correlation of supply and demand shocks between current countries in the euro area and EU accession … with the euro area and conclude that continuing integration within the EU is likely to align the business cycles of these … countries in a manner similar to the synchronisation of supply and demand shocks we document for the EU in the 1990s …

(CEECs), a topic that has gained attention in recent years as new EU entrants prepare for participation in the monetary union …

The EU member states in CESEE have converged relatively rapidly to the global frontier, some even during the recent … numbers also do so. EU membership has and will in the future potentially help convergence through several private and public … channels, but in itself EU membership is not a guarantee for continued convergence. Reforms will be needed to utilise this …

advanced accession countries, the shocks remain significantly more idiosyncratic. Furthermore, many EU countries seem to have a … EU seems to have aligned the business cycles of these countries as well …

We assess the correlation of supply and demand shocks between current countries in the euro area and EU accession … with the euro area and conclude that continuing integration within the EU is likely to align the business cycles of these … countries in a manner similar to the synchronisation of supply and demand shocks we document for the EU in the 1990s.JEL numbers …