Ready to Join the EU?: On the status of reform in the candidate countries

Federico Foders, Daniel Piazolo & Rainer Schweickert

Published: December 2002

This paper presents a new set of indicators concerning the status of economic reform in the candidate countries for the enlargement of the European Union which is scheduled for 2004. After an overview of indicators of institutional development, macroeconomic policy and trade policy, a composite index is derived. It turns out that the ranking of the candidate countries according to the composite index diverges from the ranking provided in the progress reports of the European Commission.