L’intégration économique des pays d’Europe centrale et orientale
Economic Integration in the Countries form Central and eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: Danube area covers 14 countries, 9 from European Union and 5 others. After the fall down of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, the area was not integrated, in particular during the communism and the cold war. The economic gap between the different states in the west and the south-east is very wide. The main pole is in Germany and Austria. Trade integration has been done along this west-east canal and not very much between the new member states of the Union. Nevertheless, we may mention the CEFTA under its two successive approaches. Till 2008, a rapid economic growth was seen in the area (example of Slovakia). Foreign direct investments came to this area. From 2008/09, the economic crisis blew up in the region (in Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia). The question of further integration is open, having in mind the big diversity of the region. Is the Danube a possible integration factor? There are also, in the region, many minorities (amongst them the Roms). The European Union tried to integrate the area, through different programmes as IPA or through horizontal policies as energy and transport policies. But the most interesting is the European Strategy for the Danube with four different priorities. Some positive results are already done, but the global economic integration is not done yet, because of the wide gap existing between the different states of the area.

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