Euro launch impacts EU enlargement

Joanne Irvine, fund manager emerging markets at Aberdeen Asset Management With the launch of the euro on 1 January 2002, the process of EU enlargement takes on a new dimension. Eight central and eastern European countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Slovakia and the three Baltic states) are likely to conclude negotiations on membership by the end of 2002 and join the EU by the start of 2005. In 2001, the EU made enlargement one of its top priorities. An informal roadmap between the EU and candidate countries should be concluded in 2002 and, following this, membership ...