Ten Central European countries became members of the European Union in the years 2004 - 2007. They constitute 20% of the EU’s total population; and even though their economic output is much lower, it rises dynamically. New members’ impact on the EU policies has nevertheless been limited. This is due not only to the arcane voting rules within the EU, but also to the lack of a common agenda among the Central European countries. Our paper illustrates that the new members rarely vote together and that their influence is thus fairly limited. We argue that as the EU seemingly lacks energy to implement further reforms that would stimulate its economy, impetus for change may come from Central European countries. To that end, however, they have to coordinate their voting and become a more coherent voting group than they are now.
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Paper provided by Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies in its series Working Papers IES with number
2008/22.
Find related papers by JEL classification: J08 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics Policies J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects K31 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Labor Law
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Alberto Alesina & Romain Wacziarg, 1999.
"Is Europe Going Too Far?,"
NBER Working Papers
6883, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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