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• Western Balkans: Opportunities for Agriculture on the Eve of EU Accession

  52-73

  Tamas Mizik

  Views:

  218

  The Western Balkan countries can be characterised by their shared goal, which is to achieve the quickest accession to the European Union. Agriculture is an important obstacle to achieving this goal. The role of agriculture differs widely among the countries analysed but is more important than the average of the EU. This study gives a comprehensive overview of the most important agricultural indicators. These indicators allow us to acquire a precise picture of the sector’s relevance, production structure, efficiency and international relations. After demonstrating changes in input use, production structure, prices, terms of trade and agricultural policies, the next section identifies some of the reasons for these changes. The analysis concentrates on the most recent years for which data is available. In the last few years Serbia became the leading producer and the only net exporter of agricultural goods in the region. Nevertheless, the current situation is endangered by several issues, such as imbalanced sectoral production, fragmented production structure, relatively low yields, unfavourable export composition, and poor food hygiene and quality control, which anticipate painful and difficult measure which need to be carried out.

  JEL classification: Q15, Q17, Q18

• The structure and the behaviour of the capital of cooperative banks

  59-77

  Eszter Lang

  Istvan Tassy

  Views:

  192

  Today cooperatives are unable to function according to traditional cooperative principles, as the changes in the economy have altered the basis for the operation of cooperatives as well. There are a number of regulations affecting the members of cooperatives and investors ranging from the foundation to the ditribution of dividend, from the volatility of capital to investing into a cooperative, which are carried out in comparison with other forms of investment in the market. By now in Europe debates about cooperatives have become more heated; the documents of the European Union especially the ones concerning social economy also testify to this. It is for this reason that the study has chosen the examination of cooperative banks. The authors present the structure of cooperative banks, the changes in the structure, as well as the behaviour and characteristics of cooperative capital.

• Is growth sustainable without rules-based policy?

  Laszlo Csaba

  Views:

  186

  The article examines conditions for rules-based fiscal policy in the European Union and discusses the consequences of softening up the Stability and Growth Pact by the March 2005 Council. It surveys arguments in favor of rules-based policy and proves that most of the arguments in favor of softening up the Pact, as well as the concrete steps of modification do not contribute to lasting and improved fiscal solidity in the euro area, but follow opportunistic political considerations of the big member states. It shows why the modifications make the life of the new entrants more difficult and allow for lax fiscal policies and secular slowdown of growth.