Countries belonging to the European neighbourhood are highly diverse. Their diversity is multidimensional (geographical, socio-economic, political, cultural, religious, etc.) and the individual dimensions all have important implications for EU policies towards the region(s), for EU institutional...

(Report based on Background Study for European Competitiveness Report 2012, see http //ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/industrial-competitiveness/competitiveness-analysis/european-competitiveness-report/index_en.htm) Summary Countries belonging to the European neighbourhood are highly diverse....

The aim of this study is to analyse the state of the competitiveness of seven Western Balkan economies and to suggest policy recommendations in order to increase their capacity to compete. Most countries from the Western Balkans have a persistent current account deficit of about 10% of GDP which...

Die meisten Westbalkanländer haben ein hohes und in der Regel persistentes Leistungsbilanzdefizit von annähernd 10% des BIP. Reduktionen des Leistungsbilanzdefizits der letzten Jahre sind vor allem auf krisenhafte Importzurückhaltung zurückzuführen. Das durchschnittliche Westbalkanland (im...

The present economic crisis bears all the familiar hallmarks of the financial, debt-related and structural aspects of current account crises. All these aspects have lasting level effects and recovery can be very protracted. Export-led growth was an important feature of the recovery period...

Summary Continued weak external demand and uncertain recovery of investments will allow for only modest growth prospects for the countries of Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) this year. Slovenia, Croatia and the Czech Republic will remain in recession. Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic...

Summary Despite near stagnation in the euro area and the negative impact of the Ukraine crisis, in most of the NMS economies and some of the Western Balkan countries growth prospects are viewed as positive. While the NMS economies will preserve their positive growth differential vis-à-vis the...

The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) expects GDP in Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) to pick up speed and grow on average by 2-3% over the forecast period 2014-2016 a major driving force rooted in an upward reversal of public and private investment. The...

After a long period of convergence, Central, East and Southeast Europe experienced a deep recession in 2009. The relatively moderate GDP decline (-3.6%) on average for the new EU member states (NMS) reflects Poland's weight in the group, the only EU country to have recorded positive GDP growth...

The outlook for the world economy has improved in the course of 2010 and the recovery has gained strength in the EU as well. The Central, East and Southeast European countries (CESEE) have also recovered from the crisis; the majority of them recorded positive GDP growth. On average, the recent...