The accession of ten new countries to the European Union on 1 May 2004 represents a further milestone on the way to the economic and political integration of all countries in Europe. With their entry into the EU the new member states from Central and Eastern Europe have officially concluded...

Turkeyu0092s fulfilment of the EUu0092s first set of political criteria qualifies the country to start negotiations. But EU membership is much more demanding than most of Turkeyu0092s political and business elite realise. They hope that they can bargain away many of the onerous requirements for...

This report presents the findings of the 2011 Regional Level Evaluation of the Commission of the European Union’s co-operation with the Caribbean Region. The evaluation was carried out to provide meaningful feedback to the Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS), but also to...

This review of regional integration in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries takes a broad view of regional integration and includes various aspects of regional trade integration such as tariff reduction and covers behind the border dimensions of regional trade integration such as...

This Country Focus discusses the relation between public investment and economic growth in Poland. Theoretical and empirical work has shown that improvements in the quantity and quality of public infrastructure have a positive impact on growth in the medium and, possibly, in the long run. The...

Following several years of low growth Germany is presently enjoying a relatively strong recovery. With unemployment falling at record speed and fiscal consolidation progressing, the upswing is set to continue in spite of uncertainties surrounding the VAT increase of January 2007. This Country...

The Czech financial sector has changed dramatically since transition. In fifteen years, it has developed from a state-owned mono-bank into a privatised bank-based financial system with developing capital and private equity markets. This country focus analyses the development of the financial...

Since 1995 Germany has barely managed to grow by 1.2% annually, with growth over the last four years averaging only 0.6%. In 2005, growth will again be below1%. With these low growth rates Germany has clearly fallen behind all the other European countries. The German economy is suffering from a...

While there has been some recovery since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, both output and employment levels remain lower than they were pre-crisis in the EU-27. Indeed, the severity of the recession has been such that output has yet to return to 2007 levels in each of the largest...