The theme of this contribution is how Europe will evolve over the next decade. The key message is that over this decade Europe will be busy digesting the 12 members that joined in 2004 and 2007. Digesting in the context means that the new members will only gradually be incorporated and...

Governments of most accession countries in Central and Eastern Europe initially expressed keen interest to adopt the Euro as soon as possible. The fervour seems to have cooled somewhat in the meantime. This paper will argue that there are good reasons for mixed feelings. While monetary...

The opening up of Central and Eastern Europe has provided new investment opportunities for German investors. At the same time, importing capital from abroad can be an efficient mechanism towards increased factor accumulation for the accession states to the European Union. In this paper, we study...