With Germany emerging most resiliently from the economic crisis and worries about long-term stagnation elsewhere in Europe, it has been easy to miss the transformation quietly underway in the EU’s newer member states. Seeking the path to an “export-led” recovery, several countries in Central and Eastern Europe have been able to position themselves competitively within the global upturn in trade. As a result, Central and Eastern EU countries (EU-CEE) have achieved an average 30% increase in export volumes since 2010 and several states have significantly increased their share of global trade.
This shift is the topic of the special focus note in the World Bank’s new EU Regular Economic Report (EU RER). We welcomed the report’s author Theo Thomas for a discussion about how and why EU-CEE trade patterns are changing.
- What is driving this evolution in export behavior?
- Is this export-led growth sustainable, or are policy changes necessary to anchor the recovery?
- Does this story offer lessons for other EU member states, especially in the fragile periphery?
Speakers
- Introductory remarks: Mamta Murthi, regional director for Central Europe and the Baltics, World Bank
- Speaker:Theo Thomas, lead economist, World Bank
- Discussant: Zsolt Darvas, Senior Fellow, Bruegel
- Chair: Grégory Claeys, research fellow, Bruegel
Event materials
- The World Bank's press release and the full EU Regular Economic Report.
- Theo Thomas' presentationpresentation.
- Event notes notes.
Relevant Reading
- Blog post by Marek Dabrowski:Central and eastern Europe: uncertain prospects of economic convergence
- Blog post by Zsolt Darvas: The convergence dream 20 years on
- Blog post by Zsolt Darvas 10 years EU enlargement anniversary: Waltzing past Vienna
- Suparna Karmakar and André Sapir's Memo to the new EU Commissioner for Trade.
Practical Details
- Venue: Bruegel, Rue de la Charité 33, 1210 Brussels
- Date: 28 May 2015
- Time: 12.15-14.30
- Contact: Matilda Sevón, events manager
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