Subregional Economic Cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe : The Political Economy of CEFTA

Subregional economic cooperation has been an important yet relatively unexplored aspect of the quest by central and eastern European states to make the transition from integration in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance to full EU membership.Martin Dangerfield provides a comprehensive and in-depth study of what has clearly been the most important initiative in this respect - the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA). He examines the origins, aims, objectives and structure of CEFTA as well as assessing the main results of the cooperation so far. Analysis is included on both the economic and political impact of CEFTA and its role as a pre-accession instrument to the EU. Martin Dangerfield discusses integration-deepening in the CEFTA context, the debate over institutionalization and the CEFTA enlargement process. The final part of the book examines the future viability of CEFTA in the context of the process of eastward expansion of the EU. This book will be a valuable addition to the existing literature in the area, appealing to academics and researchers in European and transition studies.