Drawing on a new analytical framework provided by the economic theory of optimal legal areas, this paper identifies the factors determining the optimal size of the European Union. It applies this theory to the question of how enlargement affects the welfare of the current and the new members of...

If future negotiations for entry into the EU are anticipated by a decentralized business sector in transition economies, this may trigger EU-specific irreversible investments, reducing the bargaining position of an applicant country in the actual negotiations. As a result the country may face...

In a referendum held in the UK on 23 June 2016, 51.9% of the participating electorate voted to leave the European Union. The number of legal questions raised by the referendum are breathtaking. This article tackles two of them: it discusses questions of UK constitutional law involved in deciding...

This paper takes a welfare-view on eastern enlargement of the EU, focusing on incumbent countries. Enlargement is decomposed into three elements: Single-market integration on commodity markets, budgetary costs from EU-expenditure policies, and singlemarket-induced migration from new to present...

A small expectations-expanded "Mundell-Fleming" model is built for the European Union Accession Countries and estimated to assess the optimality of different exchange rate regimes (a peg and a float) through a simple welfare function. Floating appears as the best option for most of the countries...

This paper examines the transition process within Eastern Europe and the integration process with the EU and shows that the requirements for the transition towards a market economy overlap with the requirements for EU accession. Furthermore, the economic situation of the candidate countries is...

This conference volume investigates the consequences of EU enlargement on structural economic policies in East and West, and in particular on the EU's economic policy coordination processes. Given the aspirations of the Lisbon agenda, most countries in either region face adjustment needs in the...

After completion of the internal market and the introduction of the euro, the European Union put Eastern enlargement on the agenda for the new millennium. When the enlargement process was started in 1997, it was aiming at the stability and prosperity for the entire European continent. The...

The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 to new members from beyond the former Iron Curtain could increase the attractiveness of the whole European continent for firms concerned about competitiveness. The competitive advantage of new members is derived mostly from labor productivity, and...