EU enlargement rests on the proven success of European unification. European monetary integration and the introduction of euro are probably the best examples of integration. The EU financial sector has been going through a large restructuring program in the last decades. There was a continuous...

This paper explores the economic consequences of the enlargement of the European Union with countries from Central and Eastern Europe. We focus on integration aspects that go beyond the reduction of formal trade barriers, namely accession to the internal market and free movement of labour. The...

This paper has been prepared as a part of a broader Ezoneplus project that evaluates European Monetary Union (EMU) and its enlargement to prospective members in central and eastern Europe. The project is financially supported by European Commission (HPSE-CT-2001-00084). It contains the following...

After joining EU, the accession countries are expected to join the EMU and the euro-area. This cannot take place immediately after EU enlargement, as prior joining euro-area the accession countries should apply to the European Commission for entering EMU stage three and fulfil Maastricht...

This paper reviews the macroeconomic policies and performance of the three Nordic EU countries. The experiences of Denmark, Finland and Sweden from the turbulent economic developments of the 1990s and from adjusting their public sectors to fiscal consolidation are illustrating, not least for the...

This regional input analyses recent developments and future prospects of fiscal policy (part I) and monetary policy (part II) of Benelux, France and Germany (EMU-5) covering the period of 1997-2004. The fiscal policy part concentrates on budgetary effects of the eastward enlargement. Besides,...

The recent outset of European Monetary Integration with the introduction of a unique currency and a full centralization of monetary policy together with the increasing integration of global capital markets, stimulated a large body of research on monetary policy rules. Since Lucas' critique, the...

Capital markets have undergone massive changes in the past decade; in Western Europe but of course more fundamentally in the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). The euro has fostered the transformation of financial systems toward a more market based approach. Its impact in Eastern Europe...