Income convergence in Europe: Catching up or falling behind?

2012 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Czasonis ◽  
Michael Quinn
Keyword(s):  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Income Convergence ◽  
Euro Zone ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Time Frames ◽  
The Eu

One of the motivations for a country to join the European Union is the belief that this will boost short- and long-run incomes. Researchers have tested the hypothesis of income convergence in different settings using either regression or unit root analysis, with mixed results. In this paper, we use both methods on the same samples over a significant time period. This allows us to judge differences in results across varied time-frames and methodologies. The focus of these tests is on convergence to German and EMU average incomes by Eastern European countries and those within the Euro-zone from 1971–2007. The evidence for convergence is mixed. Among the Euro-zone countries, there is more evidence of convergence in the 1970s and 1980s than recently. There is significant evidence that Eastern Europe experienced convergence and that capital formation was one of the root causes. While the results do not support the hypothesis that joining the EU increases convergence, reforms undertaken in the 1990s by Eastern European countries in preparation for joining may have helped them to “catch up”, even if the act of joining the EU did not directly impact convergence.

scholarly journals Agriculture and agricultural policy in the European Union

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (No. 2) ◽  
pp. 62-66
Author(s):  
D. Ahner
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Agricultural Policy ◽  
Common Agricultural Policy ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Common ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Agenda 2000 ◽  
The Eu

The paper deals with the particular stages of development of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the last forty years. The process and impacts of CAP reforms are analyzed for the particular production industries of agriculture. The paper also presents a detailed description of Agenda 2000 and mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2002 that brought about many proposals for the future working of CAP after accession of Central and Eastern European countries.

Transfers as a Means to Combat European Spillovers

2005 ◽  
Vol 225 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk T.G. Rübbelke ◽  
Eytan Sheshinski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Environmental Policy ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Environmental Taxation ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Accession Countries ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

SummaryIn 2004, there was a further enlargement of the European Union. Among the new member countries are eight Central and Eastern European countries. Especially the accession countries located directly at the border to the EU generate significant environmental spillovers harming the Union. These spillovers are mitigated but not deleted by the enlargement regulations.In this paper we will therefore analyze an instrument which may further diminish the spillover problems: transfers, which are conditional on a tightening of environmental policy in the accession countries. The environmental policy considered is the policy of environmental taxation.

scholarly journals Ecological taxes in some European countries

2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (162) ◽  
pp. 209-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Filipovic
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Eu Directive ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Previous Decade ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

Production and consumption of fossil fuels is one of the major causes of the green house effect, which is in economics known as a form of ecological externality. Fiscal solution, as one way of internalization of externalities, is based on polluters-pay principle and the imposition of tax on emission. Although the implementation of ecological tax was intensified during the previous decade, fiscal revenues are modest and account for only 5% of the total fiscal revenues of the European Union. Taxes on energetic products, accounting for 76%, are dominant among ecological taxes. Since the EU Directive 82/92 imposes minimum excise rates on oil products, during the last decade Central Eastern European countries have increased excise rates on fossil fuels and fully engaged in the field of ecological policy.

scholarly journals Business cycles synchronisation between the EU-15 and selected Eastern European Countries – The wavelet coherence approach

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jovan Njegić ◽  
Dejan Živkov ◽  
Jelena Damnjanović
Keyword(s):  
Business Cycles ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Wavelet Coherence ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

This paper strives to investigate the level of business cycles synchronisation between 8 Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) and the EU-15. We use wavelet coherence and phase difference methodology as a very suitable tool that observes simultaneously the strength of business cycles’ co-movement in the aspect of time as well as in the aspect of frequency. The results indicate that the business cycles of CEECs are generally synchronised with the EU-15 business cycles, whereas distinct differences existed before, during, and after the financial crisis (2008–2009) and during the European sovereign debt crisis (2010–2011). In other words, we demonstrate that very strong business cycles synchronisation occurred in almost all CEECs during crisis periods and at higher wavelet scales, while only moderate synchronisation is recorded in relatively tranquil periods at higher frequencies. The results suggest that smaller CEECs, but also larger countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, and to some extent Slovakia as well have a higher level of business cycles synchronisation with the EU-15, particularly in the crisis period at short-run as well as at long-run fluctuations. However, we do not find strong business cycles co-movement in cases of Poland and Latvia via HP and BP filters at higher frequencies during the crisis, which might indicate a higher resistance of these countries to external systemic shocks.

scholarly journals Az Európai Unió intézményrendszere és működése, a hazai környezetvédelmi infrastruktúra-fejlesztési projektek szemszögéből

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 158-164
Author(s):  
Ferenc Szabó
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
The European Union ◽  
New Members ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Environmental Infrastructure ◽  
The Eu

The cooperation of the highly developed western European countries has led to significant success, mainly after the establishment of the European Union. The original goals, peace, prosperity and human rights were assured. However, the inner conflicts of the system have been producing operational difficulties time to time. One of the main goals of the "Lisbon Process 2000" was to eliminate these operational problems, in order to strengthen competitiveness. The accession to the EU meant great opportunities to the new members, first of all in the field of environmental infrastructure development. The EU support and funds made it possible to the eastern European countries to reach the level of the h developed counties in a few years. But it's clear that the support systems are difficult, the regulations and conditions are very strict. On one hand, an effective national level regulation and management has to be required, on the other hand the professionalism of the beneficiaries has to be increased in the near future.

scholarly journals Regional Products in the Central and Eastern European Countries that Acceded to the European Union in May 2004

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-38
Author(s):  
Marcin Feltynowski
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Central European ◽  
Regional Tourism ◽  
Protected Designation Of Origin ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

This article presents information about regional products registered by those Central European countries which joined the European Union structures in May 2004. Their membership facilitated the registration of regional products and their participation in the EU’s registration procedures. Regional and local products registered in the area of a country can become a base for the promotion of regional tourism in the regions of origin of these products. The brand recognition of these regional products also becomes a basis to improve the quality of the agricultural products and foodstuffs. This article presents the activities of the Central European countries which are members of the EU since 2004 in their registration of regional products. The presented data shows how many products were registered within each group of products, protected by the marks: Protected Designation of Origin, Protected Geographical Indication, and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed. Verification of the statistical data allows for analysis concerning the product class, as defined in the EU directives.

The Exclusion of Roma and European Citizenship

2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (824) ◽  
pp. 100-104
Author(s):  
Julija Sardelić
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Ethnic Minority ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
European Citizenship ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

Some 10-15 million members of the Roma minority live in Europe; an estimated 6 million are citizens of the European Union. It was not until the 1990s that European Union institutions began treating Roma as an ethnic minority deserving of human rights protections. Concerns about mass migration of Roma from Eastern European countries where they face severe discrimination was one of the reasons the EU included protections for Roma among the conditions that candidate countries had to meet to qualify for consideration in its most recent rounds of enlargement. Those EU efforts have overlooked similar discrimination and neglect in western member states.

scholarly journals Disclosure of Evidence in Central and Eastern European Countries in Light of the Implementation of the Damages Directive

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 197-221
Author(s):  
Inese Druviete ◽  
Jūlija Jerņeva ◽  
Aravamudhan Ulaganathan Ravindran
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Evidence Disclosure ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

The article looks primarily at the material comprised in the volume edited by A. Piszcz, Implementation of the EU Damages Directive in Central and Eastern European Countries published in 2017 and based on that compares aspects of the disclosure of evidence issue in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The purpose of this article is to look into how the process for the disclosure of evidence has evolved in eleven countries of the European Union in light of Directive 2014/104/EU. The article looks at six key issues with regard to disclosure of evidence in light of Directive 2014/104/EU: general procedural issues; procedure for the submission of evidence; criteria for the disclosure of evidence; restrictions on the disclosure of evidence; disclosure of evidence by parties other than the defendant; and consequences of the failure to comply with a request to submit evidence. The article relies on primary data from eleven EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe.

scholarly journals Symbolic and pragmatic aspects of European identity

Sociologija ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
György Lengyel ◽  
Borbála Göncz
Keyword(s):  
European Countries ◽  
European Identity ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
National Belonging ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
Symbolic Identity ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects ◽  
The Eu

It seems realistic that one of the long-term preconditions of European integration is the strengthening of European identity. Otherwise, it might happen that a growing split occurs between the elites and the population in the question of integration. In the Western European countries the concepts of Europe and the EU frequently coincide, while in the Eastern European countries Europe has primarily cultural-historical connotations and the EU embodies economic development and welfare. In an international comparison, European identity was stronger in the newly joining countries, but in some of them (i.e. in Hungary and Estonia) the national identity was among the strongest as well. The current study is based on a Hungarian representative survey carried out in 2003 - that is before Hungary joined the European Union. We supposed that class positions, the availability of material, cultural and social resources strongly influence European identity. We examined two aspects of identity, a symbolic and a pragmatic one. The symbolic identity was measured by questions addressing national vs. supra- and sub-national belonging, while pragmatic identity was approached by a question addressing the fair redistribution of taxes among the different levels. We could compare these dimensions and investigate the possible reasons for inconsistencies. .

The integration of central European countries into the western European economy from 1988 to 1998

2002 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
F. Festoc-Louis
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Central European ◽  
The Third ◽  
Western European ◽  
Eastern European Countries ◽  
The Eu

In 1998, the European Union (EU) entered into negotiations with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia concerning the enlargement of the Union. At the end of 1999, the European Commission decided that six other countries could join the negotiations in 2000 (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Malta and Romania), and it was suggested that a decision concerning the date of membership would be taken in 2002 for these applicants fulfilling all the criteria. Many questions still remain on both sides, in particular regarding institutional reform of the EU (Festoc, 1998), and the ability of the Central and Eastern European countries to adopt the “acquis”. In this article, we shall evaluate the ways in which the Central European countries (Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic — the CECs) have already integrated to the Western European economy, using trade data over the last ten years. First, we show that since the beginning of the transition, a feature of the foreign trade of the CECs has been a strong reorientation from East to West, in particular to Germany, together with a rapid growth in trade between the EU and the CECs. Second, we describe the trade structure, focussed on foreign direct investment as a mean of developing new exports. The third and fourth sections study the development of the specialisations of the CECs and the nature of trade between the CECs and the EU respectively.

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