ИЗСЛЕДВАНЕ НА ПРОЦЕСИТЕ НА ИНТЕГРАЦИЯ И ДИФЕРЕНЦИАЦИЯ В ЕВРОПЕЙСКИЯ СЪЮЗ
RESEARCH ON THE PROCESSES OF INTEGRATION AND DIFFERENTIATION IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Summary/Abstract: The international regional integration and the processes taking place at the economic formations have been the subject of numerous economic, political and sociological studies since the 1950s. The core question that arises, in this regard, is if there can be noticed occurrence of processes, contradictory to the integration – processes of differentiation and disintegration. The purpose of the study is to examine the processes of integration and differentiation within the European Union and the factors for their occurrence and development. The paper presents an analysis of the European integration process as well as a study on the factors, influencing the stability in the EU. Analyzed are the foreign trade flows of a group of Eastern European countries that are EU members – Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Croatia. The direction of the foreign trade connections of these countries with countries within the EU, as well as with non-EU countries, is examined as a factor for development of differentiation in the EU. The paper argues that the redirection of foreign trade flows from a group of certain Eastern European countries that are EU Member States, to non-EU countries, could be examined as a factor for the occurrence of processes of differentiation within the EU.

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