Introduction Reflecting the diversity of countries in its neighbourhood, the European Union (EU) has established different cooperation processes, institutional arrangements and forums for its discussions with these countries. Each form of cooperation is characterized by its own dynamics, institutional set-up and instruments, procedures, long-term objectives and problems. The various forms of cooperation between the EU and its neighbouring countries also reflect the importance of those countries for the competitiveness of the EU and its Member Sta...more

It is textbook knowledge that economic crises are in most cases associated with the accumulation of macroeconomic imbalances. In turn, macroeconomic imbalances emerge as the result of imbalanced growth. In the ideal world of equilibrium, all macroeconomic variables change at the same, equilibrium growth rate. The real world is one of disharmony and disequilibria, when there are significant divergences in the rates of growth of economic variables. When speed differentials are within certain limits, the resulting macroeconomic imbalances are manageable through the instru...more

One year after the onset of the Arab Spring, the transition is clearly at its very beginning. In that, it does not compare with the onset of transition in Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) in 1989 or 1990, which was a kind of breakthrough and provided a clear discontinuity with the past in almost all respects. In the majority of cases this has been one more step in the process of systemic change in the CESEE that will take some time to unfold. This Policy Note compares changes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with the processes of reforms and change that took place in the so...more

In the wake of the ‘Arab Spring’ several observers compared the changes in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to the transition of the former communist countries in Central, East and Southeast Europe (CESEE) to parliamentary democracy and market economy starting two decades ago. Relying on the wiiw’s long standing experience in analysing both the centrally planned economic systems and the institutional and economic aspects of transition, the following Policy Note attempts – without claiming to have a detailed knowledge regarding MENA countries at the moment - to find poss...more

Economic outcomes before and after the break-up of Yugoslavia What are the costs of nationalistic policies? The expectations may be more optimistic than is warranted as the example of the breakup of Yugoslavia suggests. Assuming that nationalists expected that economic results would be better than in federal Yugoslavia, it makes sense to get some idea of what an alternative to a nationalistic strategy would have achieved in the last 20 years. The alternatives are nationalism vs. integration, not necessarily independence vs. federal Yugoslav state. That allows Slovenian deve...more

This piece argues that three specific policy issues need to be addressed urgently in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe in order to avoid a sustained period of recession or depression: (i) orderly exchange rate adjustment (ii) fiscal stress and (iii) financial sector vulnerability. The G-20 Declaration supports significantly the role of the IMF in the current crisis, but there is a need for an additional determined effort by the EU....more

This policy note argues that the current global economic crisis enforces an adjustment process in the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe (CEE and SEE) in the form of real exchange rate depreciation. Because of the weakness of financial institutions and built-up foreign currency debt such a process has inherent dangers to lead to overshooting and a possible capital flight out of these economies. In such circumstances the economies are severely constrained in putting the types of policies in place which are currently pursued in most of Western Europe, the USA and Japan, that i...more