The enlargement of the European Union towards the Western Balkans is experiencing unprecedented dynamism, supported by the launch of a tailored Euro 6 billion growth plan. This renewed momentum offers an important opportunity for the Western Balkans to accelerate economic convergence with the...

Twenty years have passed since the first eastern enlargements of the European Union (EU). This paper assesses the impacts of EU accession on agriculture and rural regions of Central and Eastern European countries and identifies the reasons behind differences in country performance. Results...

EU enlargement rounds have always been driven by political will of the parties concerned and administered through a comprehensive legal-bureaucratic procedure. There is strong political determination to carry on the accession process involving Western Balkan countries as well as Ukraine, Georgia...

Understanding the structural change in catching-up regions and the spatial distribution of economic sectors is essential for designing comprehensive policy strategies to promote balanced economic development. This study examines the economic restructuring of the 11 central and eastern European...

The objective of the article is to determine the prospects for the development of BLER (board-level employee representation) in the new EU countries. To achieve this goal, a critical analysis of the literature on the subject and relevant legal regulations was used. In the old countries of the...

We employ Synthetic Control Method techniques to estimate the causal effect of Brexit on the consumer price index (CPI) in the United Kingdom. We construct a counterfactual CPI index from a weighted pool of comparable economies and find that the price level of the United Kingdom rose...

EU enlargement has stalled since the last member joined over ten years ago, marking the longest period without expansion since 1973. This elapsed time contrasts with the potential income gains membership promises. Drawing on the biggest EU enlargement in 2004 and employing a synthetic...

This paper examines the state of innovation in Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern EU countries. Despite increased innovation capacity, the region faces significant challenges threatening its growth and competitiveness, including severe skills shortages, uneven productivity, and barriers to...

How does dismantling deep integration affect international trade? This paper provides new evidence on the consequences of disintegration by estimating the impact of Brexit on goods trade by UK firms. The UK’s exit from the EU’s single market and customs union in January 2021 led to an...

This paper examines how trade liberalization-induced labor demand shocks affect wages and non-wage working conditions. Using exogenous trade shocks from EU enlargement and worker-level data, we find that export liberalization increases temporary contracts and atypical work schedules,...

This paper studies the role of dataset choices for trade policy estimates in structural gravity models. Using twelve publicly available data sources and applying alternative and commonly used dataset restrictions, we obtain 586 estimates for the EU membership trade effects from a standard...

Empirical models of trade agreements implicitly assume that withdrawal from a trade agreement has an equal and opposite trade effect as accession, i.e., symmetry. With increasing opposition to international economic cooperation, it becomes urgent to test this assumption. We analyze a...

This paper studies the role of dataset choices for trade policy estimates in structural gravity models. Using twelve publicly available data sources and applying alternative and commonly used dataset restrictions, we obtain 586 estimates for the EU membership trade effects from a standard...

Western Balkan countries aim to intensify their path toward the European Union as an opportunity to ensure peace, economic growth, and institutional sustainability. Apart from the regional challenges, the EU integration process of the WB is affected by different geopolitical challenges, such as...

Seit dem EU-Beitritt der ehemals sozialistischen Länder im östlichen Teil Europas und dem Auslaufen der darüber hinaus noch geltenden Einschränkungen bei der Freizügigkeit ist von dort eine sehr starke Zuwanderung nach Deutschland erfolgt. So ist die Anzahl der Personen mit...

In this study, we contribute to the literature about the effects of improving access to citizenship on integration outcomes. Hereby, we exploit exogenous variation from two citizenship reforms in Germany to estimate the effects of residency requirements on perceived discrimination, which is...

The Treaty on the Functioning of the EU promotes not only a common market but also economic, social and territorial cohesion and access to public services, including cross-border regions. Despite the objective of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU to promote, inter alia, cohesion in...

This report presents the results of the tenth round of the external quality assessment (EQA-10) scheme for Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) typing in EU/EEA and EU enlargement countries, organised for national public health reference laboratories (NPHRLs) providing data to the Food- and...

Institutional decentralisation is crucial for the health of democratic societies, as it cultivates effective local leadership and enables the resolution of local issues by empowering decision-makers at the level closest to the citizen. This study provides an overview of the institutional...

EU enlargement has stalled since the last member joined over ten years ago, marking the longest period without expansion since 1973. This elapsed time contrasts with the potential income gains membership promises. Drawing on the biggest EU enlargement in 2004 and employing a synthetic...

The European Parliament played a fundamental role in reshaping the political landscape of central and eastern Europe during and after the end of the Cold War, setting out an agenda for European enlargement and substantiating European integration. Amid an atmosphere that signalled the triumph of...

The present document describes the methods used by Member States, candidate and EFTA countries in their surveys on road freight transport statistics. Part I describes national methodologies for data collection. This information is based on the national reference metadata produced by the...

Access to broadband networks is increasingly an essential enabler to drive the economic and social development of territories, improving access to essential services such as education and contributing to the number of workplaces. The improvement of digital connectivity and Internet network...

Cedefop's work on qualifications frameworks dates back to 2003. The Centre has contributed to the conceptual development of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and has supported its further implementation, working alongside national authorities and stakeholders to introduce and develop...

The first edition of this guidance was published in 2020. It was created by experts from across the EU, with valuable input from the European Commission, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles. The development was facilitated and...

The study examines the implications of future enlargements for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). It assesses the budgetary costs under three scenarios for 2028-2034: (1) a 'small bang' - all six Western Balkan candidate and potential candidate countries joining by 2030, (2) a 'big...

The study examines the implications of future enlargements for the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). It assesses the budgetary costs under three scenarios for 2028-2034: (1) a 'small bang' - all six Western Balkan candidate and potential candidate countries joining by 2030, (2) a 'big...

Economic governance is a key aspect of the EU enlargement process, mirroring efforts in the EU to strengthen economic policy coordination and multilateral surveillance under the European Semester. The Annual Economic and Financial Dialogue with Regional Partners aims to prepare these (potential)...

The Croatian Qualifications Framework (CROQF) (Hrvatski kvalifikacijski okvir, HKO) is a comprehensive 13-level framework. It includes qualifications from all levels and sectors of formal education and training, i.e. general, vocational education and training (VET), higher and adult education....

Infection with Salmonella spp. is the second most reported zoonotic disease in humans. In 2023,77 486 cases were reported in the European Union (EU). Salmonella is also associated with the highest number of foodborne outbreaks [2]. The overall EU trend in salmonellosis incidence between 2017 and...

Adopted in 2012, the Bulgarian qualifications framework for lifelong learning (BQF - Национална квалификационна рамка за учене през целия живот - НКР) is a comprehensive, eight-level framework with an additional preparatory level 0. It...

Cedefop's work on qualifications frameworks dates back to 2003. The Centre has contributed to the conceptual development of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and has supported its further implementation, working alongside national authorities and stakeholders to introduce and develop...

The euro is meant to be the single currency of the European Union as a whole. It is currently used every day by around 350 million people in the 20 Member States of the euro area. The practical benefits include more stable prices, lower transaction costs for people and businesses, more...

This analytical report explores the challenges Ukraine and Moldova face in aligning their migration, asylum, and border management policies with EU standards as part of their accession process. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, both countries received EU candidate status, sparking...

We provide new evidence on the effects of adopting a common European currency on banks' profitability in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. We construct a panel of 1033 bank-year observations across 11 countries between 2006 and 2020. Our results suggest that the effect of the eurozone...