Governments of most accession countries in Central and Eastern Europe initially expressed keen interest to adopt the Euro as soon as possible. The fervour seems to have cooled somewhat in the meantime. This paper will argue that there are good reasons for mixed feelings. While monetary...

Potential new entrants to the European Union from Central and Eastern European countries face many challenges to achieve financial convergence with the existing EU nations. Using detailed case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland and analysis of cross country...

The paper takes into account both the concerns of the EU, arguing that convergence is incomplete, and the demands from accession countries, claiming that monetary integration is optimal. Indicators are developed which measure convergence and optimality in comparison with a reference group of the...