Finland is the last one of the non-applicant EFTA countries to conclude a free trade agreement with the EC. The author takes a favourable view of its prospects particularly since it has come into force just as a cyclical down-turn was getting under way.

The EU has a long history of successful enlargements. In 1957, six founding members -Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands - signed the Treaty of Rome. Since then, four enlargement waves have followed. However, the enlargement facing the EU today is without precedent...

CIR is an independent, non-governmental, 12-year old think-tank, dedicated to the study of international relations and those foreign policy issues, which are of crucial importance to Poland, Europe and transatlantic relations in both the long and the short-term. CIR carries out its own research...

"Disability insurance - the insurance against the loss of the ability to work - is a substantial part of social security expenditures in many countries. The benefit recipiency rates in disability insurance vary strikingly across European countries and the US. This paper investigates the extent...

"Disability insurance - the insurance against the loss of the ability to work - is a substantial part of social security expenditures in many countries. The benefit recipiency rates in disability insurance vary strikingly across European countries and the US. This paper investigates the extent...

"The paper analyses the directions of inter-regional migration in Poland in the years 1995-2002 and points out some major factors that cause the migration. The analyses indicate the voivodships with the largest net migration flows (Mazowieckie, Pomorskie) are characterized by high relative GDP...