By the time of the simultaneous collapses of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the European Union (EU) commenced an acute relationship with the post-communist Central and Eastern European Countries. The EU had fully supported transition to...

The enlargement of the European Union towards the East from May 2004 has generated an increase of about 100 million inhabitants in the EU population, and has especially brought along major challenges and important opportunities both for the 'new' countries and for the 'old' member states. That...

The paper applies standard public choice reasoning to the negotiations on EU enlargement and the Treaty of Nice. The starting point is the assumption that accession can only be successfully completed if the interests of decisive actors in present EU countries are respected. Decisive actors in...

Subnational governments are an important part of the public sector in the EU8 countries. They provide basic public services in both the social sectors (education, health, and social assistance) and in infrastructure (water supply, sewerage and transport). They account for about one-quarter of...

The prospect of enlarging the European Union (EU) to Central and Eastern European countries with income levels far below those of present members, questions how, and when the candidates' aspiration to converge towards EU standards of living, could possibly by fulfilled. To address these...

The European Union (EU) stands out internationally as one of the regions of the world that has most explicitly and deliberately attempted to reduce regional disparities within its constituents. How effective this effort has been, and continues to be, is a matter of open debate. The current...

We explore the economic implications of the possible accession of Croatia to the European Union. We focus on two main changes associated with the EU-membership: accession to the internal European Market and institutional reforms in Croatia triggered by the EU-membership. consumption per capita...