Central Europe / Features
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: CEE makes enormous progress but held back by governance issues
If half of the governance gap between Central Europe and the G7 countries was closed, income convergence would be brought forward by almost a generation, says EBRD chief economist Beata Javorcik in an interview with bne IntelliNews.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: The East-West convergence in numbers
30 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the new EU members haven’t yet caught up with Western Europe — but they are drawing level with the Southern European states that were battered by the international economic crisis.
CEE monthly bond wrap: Bond issues in Eastern Europe pick up strongly in October, but activity subdued in Central Europe
Bond issuers from Eastern Europe were active in October with 18 bonds issued worth a total of $4.5bn of which two-thirds of the value and 14 out of the 18 were Russian bonds, according to data provided by CBonds.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: Gabor Szeles, a self-made Hungarian success story
Szeles, now Hungary’s seventh richest man, started out importing PC parts in the 1980s. He made his name after the transition by reviving Videoton, now the largest electronic manufacturing services company in the CEE region.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: A profound crisis of trust in democracy
Report from the Open Society Foundations reveals a “robust spirit of dissent, and a readiness to challenge those in power” as shown by mass anti-corruption protests in the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: Central European automakers prepare for an electric future
Since the first years of the transition period, Central Europe started to emerge as a major manufacturing destination for Europe’s automotive industry. Now the industry is adapting to a new generation of technologies.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: Poland at a crossroads
There are hints that the dominant transition narrative — that of Poland’s overwhelming success — might have nearly run its course. Ideas previously existing on the fringes of political discourse are making their way to the fore.
30 YEARS OF TRANSITION: The Czech Republic divided by freedom since 1989
Six social classes have emerged in the Czech Republic in the three decades since the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and the education system is freezing the current status quo rather than helping social mobility.
30 years after fall of Berlin Wall Pew poll finds progress but a values fault line lies across Europe
With the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall due in November the Pew Research Center has released a report looking at how attitudes to democracy, liberal values and market economies have developed in the last 30 years.