The persistence of widespread poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic seems to be due to the presence of a large pool of jobless and discouraged workers, as well as to the low level of formal job creation. This has prevented informal jobholders from moving from a situation of mere survival into a better...

This Paper reviews the pros and cons of an early EU enlargement towards Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs hereafter). First, the Maastricht criteria, which cannot be literally assessed during the catching up process, but that nevertheless mirror the huge efforts undertaken in order...