The new EU enlargement

Jérôme Creel (1) , Sandrine Levasseur (1)

1 OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po)

On 1st May 2004, ten countries will have joined the European Union (EU): Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia. The presence of eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs hereafter) among the ten newcomers is particularly striking: these countries have had to make a giant step from centrally planned to market economies over an incredibly short time period. Accession to EU may thus be seen as a legitimate reward for countries which have undertaken a profound change in their political and economic structures. [First paragraph]

Mots clés: European Union; Labour markets; Pension systems; Exchange rate policies

Domaines: Economies et finances

Jérôme Creel, Sandrine Levasseur. The new EU enlargement: Editors’ introduction. Revue de l'OFCE, 2004, 91 bis, pp.9 - 22. ⟨10.3917/reof.075.0009⟩. ⟨hal-01020072v2⟩