Der Ministerrat der Europäischen Union will Ende März auf seinem Gipfeltreffen in Berlin die Weichen endgültig in Richtung auf eine Osterweiterung der EU stellen. In der wissenschaftlichen und politischen Diskussion besteht weitgehend Einigkeit darüber, daß diese Erweiterung des...

In the current slowdown in Europe, the United States and Japan, policy makers are vexed by the question when a recovery will come. This is the wrong question. The issue should be how a higher growth path can be reached in the long run, i.e., how the potential growth rate of our economies can be...

The recovery in Euroland has started at the beginning of this year but it has remained rather moderate. Real GDP increased at an annual rate of less than 1½ percent during the first half of 2002. Capacity utilization has declined further and unemployment continued to go up. While exports have...

The economy in the euro area has turned around. While GDP stagnated during the second half of 2001, there are more and more signs that output will increase considerably in the first half of this year. All in all, the slowdown has not been very pronounced. One indication for this is that in 2001,...

Auf der Tagung des Europäischen Rates in Kopenhagen wurde der Beschluss gefasst, die EU nach Osten hin zu öffnen und assoziierte Länder Mittel- und Osteuropas sowie Malta und Zypern in eine erweiterte Gemeinschaft aufzunehmen. Der Beitritt zur EU wurde dabei von der Erfüllung politischer,...

Economic activity in the euro area has weakened since last summer. In the second half of 2002, real GDP increased at an annualized rate of around 1 percent only. Economy-wide capacity utilization has further declined and the situation on labor markets has worsened. The increase in consumer...