A Political and Economic Dictionary of Western Europe, First Edition
Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs)
Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) is the contemporary collective name given to the region between Western Europe and Russia, from the Baltic to the Black Seas. It encompasses the core Visegrad states of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia and some definitions also include Bulgaria, Romania and Slovenia. Broader definitions of Eastern Europe include the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Balkan states of former Yugoslavia and Albania, and even the former Soviet states of Ukraine and Moldova.
An ethnically and nationally diverse region, it has over the past centuries experienced shifting borders and series of invasions and imposed rule from neighbouring empires to the west and east. In the post-Second War era the region was transformed into a number of communist ‘satellite’ states of the Soviet Union (USSR), trading together as COMECON (Council of Mutual Economic Assistance) and allied militarily in the Warsaw Pact. Dramatic revolutions in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia in 1989 led to the fall of communist dictatorships across CEECs and to their gradual transformation into nation states with liberal democracies and market economies. The collapse of state communism revived old ethnic conflicts in some states: Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two states (Czech Republic and Slovakia) in 1993, while Yugoslavia fell into civil war and disintegrated into separate republics.
On 1 May 2004 eight CEEC states became members of the European Union (EU): Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. Bulgaria and Romania are due to join the EU in 2007.
The CEEC accession states applied to join the EU between 1994 and 1996 and negotiations were opened in 1998 or 2000. By 2003 eight CEECs had met the Copenhagen Criteria and the Treaty of Accession was signed in April 2003 at a meeting of the Council of the European Union in Greece. Membership was endorsed by referendums held in all of the CEEC accession states.
The CEEC region experienced significant economic crises in the early stages of transition to market economies. In the late 1990s, however, there were improvements in economic stability and prosperity. The CEECs had an average economic growth rate of 4% in 1996–2002 and inflation fell from treble figures at the start of the 1990s to single figures after 1997. The region’s economies benefited from a growth in foreign direct investment, a shift from agriculture to manufacturing production, and financial assistance from the EU. With the PHARE programme, originally established for Poland and Hungary in 1989, the EU assisted CEECs financially in their transition to stable market economies. PHARE funding was later directed to specifically help CEECs meet the Copenhagen Criteria for EU membership. Despite significant improvements the CEEC’s average level of per caput gross domestic product (at purchasing power parity) remains at only 40%–50% of the EU average.
This is the complete article, containing 465 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
View More Summaries on Central Europe
