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

  52-73

  Tamas Mizik

  Views:

  148

  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

• Roadmap for the adoption of the euro in Hungary: dangers and opportunities

  Laszlo Jankovics

  Views:

  155

  In April 2003, the EU Accession Agreement was officially signed for the Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. These countries are destined to become EU members in May 2004. As part of the “acquis communautaire”, participation in the new version of the exchange rate mechanism (ERM II), and subsequently in the European Monetary Union (EMU) is obligatory for all new EU members (no opt-out clause is available). Therefore, the question today for the accession countries is no longer whether or not to enter the eurozone but rather the time horizon when the entry should happen.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) code: E42, E58, F33.

• Greenxit: Greenland’s Case with the European Union

  34-53

  Fruzsina Siger

  Views:

  300

  In connection with the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Brexit) a little-known episode of the European Union history became particularly interesting and timely: Greenland entered the European Community in 1973 together with Denmark, and later it left in 1985. This study provides an overview of the accession and withdrawal of Greenland to and from the European Communities and then it is put into a comparative context. On the one hand Greenxit is examined in the light of the planned withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, on the other hand it is compared with the almost-entry of Iceland. The study concludes that considering the key aspects of the case of Greenland it does not resemble that of the Brexit. However, the differences between the sovereignty and economic, political weight of the two territories explain the attitude of the EC/EU to the withdrawal. The comparison with Iceland highlights the importance of fisheries.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) codes: F53, P52

• The timing of the EMU accession

  45-62

  Laszlo Jankovics

  Views:

  224

  Following the Eu-accession the next major challenge is the preparation for and finally the introduction of the single currency for the Central Eastern European countries. In this paper, I analyze the legal, economic and political factors regarding the preparedness of the whole region, with special emphasis on Hungary. After taking the pros and cons of the official "as soon as possible" strategy into consideration, we can conclude that there is no convincing case for further postponing eurozone entry. Additionally, putting off the date indefinitely or ambiguously could result in growing economic uncertainty and dangerous financial instability. In the case of Hungary, it is very likely that the country would suffer serious loss of reputation and credibility were it to put off the target date a second time, i.e. beyond 2010. Lack of strong political commitment could unfortunately easily lead to a postponement of the adaption of the single currency. The potential implication might well be debated, but no doubt would be serious in terms of reputation and economic development.

  Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) classification: E42, E58, F33 

• The Risks of Global Financial Markets and the Importance of Credibility: Implications for Hungarian Fiscal Policy

  27-44

  Dora Gyorffy

  Views:

  94

  The central issue in the controversy about the adoption of the euro in Hungary is the difficulties associated with the fulfillment of the fiscal criterion and the possible growth sacrifice it requires. In this paper the author examines the question whether the strategy of delaying entry into the euro-zone implies that fiscal consolidation can be delayed as well. In approaching the problem the paper considers the origins and history of the present-day global financial markets and argues that given the high degree of systemic risks individual countries face responsible macroeconomic policies are crucial in minimizing vulnerability to
  crises. Consequently in order to avoid excessive interest rates and speculative inflows (or currency crisis in the worst case scenario) fiscal deficits in Hungary would have to be cut and credibility of fiscal policy reestablished even without EMU accession. The overall conclusion from this overview is that delaying entry in order to delay fiscal adjustment is likely to increase the trade off between real and nominal convergence instead of mitigating it.

  JEL classification: F33, F41, H62

• Chance for a more liveable Hungary

  5-18

  Laszlo Csaba

  Views:

  106

  This study examines the question of how successful the transition of Hungary in social fields has been over the last two decades. It comes to the conclusion that, besides the successes in the economy and the deficits in the social spheres, the reserves of the first one and a half decades are approaching exhaustion. The accession to the EU creates a chance, but not a guarantee, for the next period to be a success. The challenges for the country are very different in 2007 from what they were in 1995. For this reason we try to show directions for sustainable growth and more fruitful social politics.

• European rights in the Hungarian legal system

  67-72

  Imre Voros

  Views:

  118

  With the accession to the European Union, European rights became part of the Hungarian legal system, and have prority over Hungarian laws in the same areas. Regular courts make use of European law in situations where their own law is unclear. Nonetheless the integration of European law into the Hungarian legal system is not without problems: the Constitutional Court is in a trap, because the priority of European law does not apply to it. thus it can only examine the constitutionality of a law originatiing from Europe in the context of how it affects the Hungarian Constitution. The Hungarian legal system must conform to European norms, so legal harmonization is necessary. This requires precise and well-thought-out law-making, while European rules are often simply 'copied' into a Hungarian law, thus ruining the inner logical structure and consistency of the Hungarian law. Behind these problems lies the fact that European law has undergone an 'overdevelopment', and has not been consistently thought through.