Home  About us  Contact
 

Accession Countries (accession + country)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Business, Economics, Finance and Accounting55%
Humanities and Social Sciences44%

Selected Abstracts

Between EU Requirements, Competitive Politics, and National Traditions: Re,creating Regions in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2002
Martin Brusis
The article studies the impact of the European Union (EU) on the reforms of regional administration in Central and East European (CEE) accession countries. It analyzes the motives, process and outcomes of regional, or mesolevel administrative reforms in five countries,Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia,considering whether the EU has shaped these reforms to a higher degree than in relation to its incumbent member states. The article finds that the EU Commission's interest in regional self,governments with a substantial fiscal and legal autonomy has provided an additional rationale and an incentive to re,create regional self,governments. Advocates of regional self,government and an institutionalization of regions in the accession countries have referred to European trends and (perceived) EU expectations of regionalization. Thus, the Commission and the preaccession framework have become catalysts for a process in which most CEE regions have already enhanced and will further increase their political salience. However, the trajectories and outcomes of regional,level reforms can be better explained by a combination of domestic institutional legacies, policy approaches of reformers and their adversaries, and the influence of ethnic/historical regionalism. [source]

Technical Barriers to Trade in the European Union: Importance for Accession Countries

JCMS: JOURNAL OF COMMON MARKET STUDIES, Issue 2 2001
Paul Brenton
With trade in industrial products between the EU and the countries of central and eastern Europe (CEECs) now essentially free of tariff and non-tariff restrictions, the principal impact of accession to the EU on trade flows will be through access to the single market of the EU. A key element of this will be the removal of technical barriers to trade. In this article we try to highlight the potential importance of technical barriers to trade between the EU and the various CEECs, distinguishing between sectors according to the different approaches to the removal of these barriers in the EU: mutual recognition, detailed harmonization (old approach) and minimum requirements (new approach). We use two sources of information on technical regulations: a sectoral classification from a previous study of the impact of the single market and our own detailed translation of EU product-related directives into the relevant tariff codes. The analysis suggests that the importance of technical barriers varies considerably across the CEECs. The adjustment implications of access to the single market are likely to be greatest for those most advanced in their accession negotiations. [source]

Money Demand in an EU Accession Country: A VECM Study of Croatia

BULLETIN OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006
Dario Cziráky
O42; E13; E41; E51 Abstract The paper estimates the money demand in Croatia using monthly data from 1994 to 2002. A failure of the Fisher equation is found, and adjustment to the standard money-demand function is made to include the inflation rate as well as the nominal interest rate. In a two-equation cointegrated system, a stable money demand shows rapid convergence back to equilibrium after shocks. This function performs better than an alternative using the exchange rate instead of the inflation rate as in the ,pass-through' literature on exchange rates. The results provide a basis for inflation rate forecasting and suggest the ability to use inflation targeting goals in transition countries during the EU accession process. Finding a stable money demand also limits the scope for central bank ,inflation bias'. [source]

Between EU Requirements, Competitive Politics, and National Traditions: Re,creating Regions in the Accession Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

GOVERNANCE, Issue 4 2002
Martin Brusis
The article studies the impact of the European Union (EU) on the reforms of regional administration in Central and East European (CEE) accession countries. It analyzes the motives, process and outcomes of regional, or mesolevel administrative reforms in five countries,Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia,considering whether the EU has shaped these reforms to a higher degree than in relation to its incumbent member states. The article finds that the EU Commission's interest in regional self,governments with a substantial fiscal and legal autonomy has provided an additional rationale and an incentive to re,create regional self,governments. Advocates of regional self,government and an institutionalization of regions in the accession countries have referred to European trends and (perceived) EU expectations of regionalization. Thus, the Commission and the preaccession framework have become catalysts for a process in which most CEE regions have already enhanced and will further increase their political salience. However, the trajectories and outcomes of regional,level reforms can be better explained by a combination of domestic institutional legacies, policy approaches of reformers and their adversaries, and the influence of ethnic/historical regionalism. [source]

Enlargement and the European employment strategy: turbulent times ahead?

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 5 2003
Mike Ingham
The European Employment Strategy (EES) is set to remain centre stage as the EU embraces ten new member states. The evidence regarding the prospects of the accession countries meeting the increasingly explicit targets that the EES has set for the years up to 2010 does not yield a favourable prognosis. [source]

Food safety performance in European union accession countries: Benchmarking the fresh produce import sector in Hungary

AGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006
Marian Garcia Martinez
Countries that accede to the European Union face a complex and urgent task to adopt and implement the Acquis Communautaire on food safety. For the food industries in such countries, this implies that the European Union's standards of food production and processing, food quality and safety have to be met to ensure a high level of consumer protection and satisfaction. The authors assess the level of food safety performance in one accession country, Hungary, in one food sector (the fresh produce importing chain), and evaluate the capacity of the system to demonstrate quality assurance to the satisfaction of private customers and public regulators. The analysis of food safety performance has been undertaken through gap analysis using a novel application of a benchmarking methodology taking the United Kingdom fresh produce importing chain as the benchmark. The insights are relevant to other accession countries and to other candidate countries for European Union enlargement. [EconLit Classifications: Q130, Q180]. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 69,89, 2006. [source]

The challenge of public sector reform in EC accession countries: reflections from the Baltics, especially Latvia

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION & DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2004
Colin Jacobs
This article considers some of the key issues in reforming the public sector in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Drawing on the experience of donor funded projects, some conclusions are drawn about the process of public sector reform with particular reference to Latvia. In particular, it is argued that the process will take time but strategic choices need to be made in the absence of obvious demands from within the country. Several constraints are noted which together constitute formidable barriers to progress. However, the results of work to date provide some optimism for pilot approaches to strategic budgeting in reformist ministries. A simple checklist is used as a yardstick for progress in the main areas of public administration reform. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Food safety performance in European union accession countries: Benchmarking the fresh produce import sector in Hungary

AGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 1 2006
Marian Garcia Martinez
Countries that accede to the European Union face a complex and urgent task to adopt and implement the Acquis Communautaire on food safety. For the food industries in such countries, this implies that the European Union's standards of food production and processing, food quality and safety have to be met to ensure a high level of consumer protection and satisfaction. The authors assess the level of food safety performance in one accession country, Hungary, in one food sector (the fresh produce importing chain), and evaluate the capacity of the system to demonstrate quality assurance to the satisfaction of private customers and public regulators. The analysis of food safety performance has been undertaken through gap analysis using a novel application of a benchmarking methodology taking the United Kingdom fresh produce importing chain as the benchmark. The insights are relevant to other accession countries and to other candidate countries for European Union enlargement. [EconLit Classifications: Q130, Q180]. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 69,89, 2006. [source]