Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris --- "Monetary policy in a euro-dominated environment: challenges for central banks in South-East Europe" [2005] ELECD 383; in Liebscher, Klaus; Christl, Josef; Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris (eds), "European Economic Integration and South-East Europe" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2005)

Book Title: European Economic Integration and South-East Europe

Editor(s): Liebscher, Klaus; Christl, Josef; Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781845425173

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: Monetary policy in a euro-dominated environment: challenges for central banks in South-East Europe

Author(s): Mooslechner, Peter; Ritzberger-Grünwald, Doris

Number of pages: 20

Extract:

8. Monetary policy in a
euro-dominated environment:
challenges for central banks
in South-East Europe
Peter Mooslechner and
Doris Ritzberger-Grünwald1

1. GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The political stabilization of South-East Europe (SEE), a region widely
disadvantaged in the past, has paved the way for a new, much broader
focus on Eastern Europe. In the 1990s the economic debate had concen-
trated on the countries coming within immediate reach as the Iron Curtain
fell. These countries were not only the key agents of economic reform, but
also the preferred destination of firms and banks trying to participate in
the economic upswing. Going further south-east at the time would have
meant leaving safe ground in a political and an economic sense. The attrac-
tiveness of, and the attention paid to, SEE has since increased significantly,
however. The end of the wars that destabilized the region in the late 1990s
led to an economic upswing, outperforming the upswing in the new EU
member states ­ but also proceeding from a much lower base. With the
prospect of EU accession in 2007 or 2008 at the latest for Bulgaria,
Romania and ­ with some delay ­ for Croatia, growth rates are in fact
likely to go up further. Unlike many other states located in the EU neigh-
bourhood (Mediterranean countries or the CIS), all other SEE countries
have in fact received clear signals from Brussels that in the long run they
would also be welcomed as EU members. This makes the whole region
interesting ...