Word: european
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...doubt that enlargement helped transform the region. Eight central and eastern European countries joined the E.U. five years ago along with Cyprus and Malta, while Romania and Bulgaria followed in 2007. The enlargement process encouraged a wrenching industrial overhaul of those nations, based on the privatization and liberalization that was set as part of the price for E.U. membership, and in doing so shepherded their makeovers from stodgy Soviet vassals into economic dynamos. Slovakia and the Baltic states saw growth rates as high as 7-10% in their best years. And in Poland, the unemployment rate dropped from...
...when the financial crisis hit, these darlings of international capitalism found their open economies amongst the most vulnerable. The International Monetary Fund - recently involved in bailouts for Hungary, Latvia and Ukraine - now forecasts a 3.7% drop in GDP for the central and eastern European region for 2009. The downturn has brought down governments in Latvia and Hungary, and a prolonged crisis could translate into further political instability. (See pictures of the global financial crisis...
...countries invested heavily, and have assets, subsidiaries or delocalized production in the new member states," says George Dura, a researcher at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies. "It's unfair and selfish to regret a decision when times are lean, but to reel in the profits in good times. The old E.U. countries, who are partly responsible for the economic downturn, need to show more solidarity with their poorer neighbors...
...outer rim, eager to join, but the downturn means they are probably in for a long wait. A plan to draw poorer neighbors such as Armenia, Belarus and Ukraine closer to the E.U. will be launched on May 7. But this "Eastern Partnership" - which nudges them towards European norms of democracy, open markets and the rule of law - is also jeopardized by the crisis. "When E.U. member states themselves are entering dire straits, it will also be increasingly difficult to commit more E.U. funding for the neighbors," says Nicu Popescu from the European Council on Foreign Relations. (Read...
...However, the result is likely to be the same. Although the European perspective has been instrumental in guiding young democracies out of the grip of authoritarianism and autarchy, this power to transform the fringe is slipping. With the prize of becoming an E.U. member seeming to move further and further out of their reach, the Balkans and Turkey - politically fragile and economically vulnerable - could reverse any reforms they've already undertaken in order to turn themselves into better E.U. candidates...