Three essays on CEE economies : implications for their access to EMU

Abstract

Eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004. After joining the EL), they are obliged to join the European Monetary Union (EMU) in the future when they meet the Maastricht Criteria (MC). Initially almost all these countries showed interest in joining the EMU as soon as possible. More recently, however, some of them have begun to envisage a somewhat longer process because it is not clear whether joining the EMU as soon as possible will benefit them the most. Therefore, when is the best time for the monetary integration of the CEE countries into the EMU is an interesting and relevant research topic, which is the focus of this thesis.