2024-04-16 03:47:53
Bulgaria and all member countries from Central and Eastern Europe have a strong interest in the smooth functioning of the EU single market, the Institute for Market Economy (IPI) points out in a report that examines our participation in the EU single market.
The report was prepared on the occasion of 30 years since the establishment of the EU single market and 20 years since the accession of the main group of countries from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The IPI examines the degree of economic integration of Bulgaria within the single market and summarizes the main challenges to competitiveness and convergence.
The report lists benefits for CEE countries from their participation in the single market, such as the achievement of deeper integration in the European economy, growth in trade and a higher share of these countries in intra-community trade, growth in the inflow of foreign capital to them from large economies in the EU, increased labor mobility and more opportunities for citizens.
Data are cited showing the deeper economic integration of our country and sustained catch-up in basic economic indicators with the accession to the single market, reports BTA. According to them, Bulgaria doubled its role in the internal trade of the EU during the period of its participation in the single market. The country’s exports of goods within the EU single market reach €31 billion in 2022. Our share in EU internal trade increases from 0.34 percent in 2006 to 0.73 percent in 2022. By 2022 d. direct foreign investments in our country from EU countries amount to BGN 40 billion, which is nearly 75 percent of all foreign capital in the country. Bulgaria reaches its highest point in convergence indicators. Bulgaria’s actual individual consumption per capita, expressed in purchasing power standards, is increasing from 35 percent of EU average levels before the country’s participation in the single market to 69 percent in 2022, the report noted.
Bulgaria and the CEE countries must follow national policies that will help them to be successful within the single European market, but also provoke the introduction and maintenance of pan-European policies that support the functioning of the single market and increase the competitiveness of the European economy as a whole . In the long term, the development of the single market is of fundamental importance for the success of the CEE countries, summarizes the IPI.
The IPI points out that the main challenges on the eve of the third decade of the membership of the CEE countries in the EU are related to the geopolitical situation and the great uncertainty regarding the outcome of the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the political instability in some CEE countries, the lack of sufficient progress regarding of the rule of law and corruption. Against the background of these mainly political risks, economic policies in individual Member States and at the EU level are of key importance for the future of the region. CEE countries should strive to remain the fastest growing part of Europe in the next decade, notes the IPI.