EU Eastern enlargement and regional competitiveness

In several months the EU will have nine new member states, thus completing the process of the greatest round of EU enlargement both in size and variety. As a result, discussion is now focussing on the expected impact of EU Eastern enlargement and the intensification of site competition on the present member states. In an empirically oriented study, the Ifo Institute, in co-operation with GEFRA, the Gesellschaft für Finanz- und Regionalanalysen, examined the impact of the EU Eastern enlargement on the Bavarian economy and labour market. In addition to questions of future migration and commuter movements from the introduction of the freedom of movement for workers or the macroeconomic welfare effects through foreign-trade liberalisation, the effects of Eastern enlargement on the competitiveness of Bavarian regions stood in the foreground. Dr. Gerhard Untiedt and Dr. Bjoern Alecke of the GEFRA in Münster summarise the effects of the latter point in this article. In particular they argue that questionsd about the factors of long-term economic development of an area and questions about their competitiveness in the process of EU Eastern enlargement are two sides of the same coin.