Which Free Trade Agreement in South Eastern Europe?

Jean-Christophe Maur (1) , Patrick Messerlin (2)

1 Banque Mondiale
2 ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po)

For simplicitly, the recommendations listed below assume that there will be one regional FTA (as shown in the attached note, the same results can be achieved by a regional set of bilateral FTAs, but at higher costs and greater uncertainty). They focus on five countries (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and FR Yugoslavia), but they can be easily extended to other participants of the Stability Pact. If the existing FTAs are kept in force, their provisions should be made similar to the provisions of the regional FTA (through the evolutionary clause). Last but not least, the following recommendations assume that all the countries of the region will be WTO members -- in other words, that the WTO will be, and will stay as, the anchor of the trade policy of the countries of the region. These recommendations intend to provide a road map for the coming decade. Although they may be introduced and implemented progressively according to a precise time schedule, it is important that they are conceived at the beginning of the process -- in order to create the “Big Bang” effect so necessary for a rapid economic reconstruction of the region.The recommendations are explained and presented in detail in the attached note, in the same order.

Domaines: Economies et finances

Jean-Christophe Maur, Patrick Messerlin. Which Free Trade Agreement in South Eastern Europe?. [Research Report] UK Department for International Development. 2001. ⟨hal-03613601⟩