The opening of Central and Eastern European countries to free trade: A critical assessment

A B S T R A C T Three decades after the fall of the Berlin wall and one and a half decades after the Big Bang enlargement of the European Union (20 04-20 07), we revisit contrasting narratives about the benefit of both free trade and the EU enlargement for Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. We distinguish old, pre-2004 EU countries from CEE countries that joined the EU in 20 04-20 07, as well as from the CEE countries that have not become part of the EU, in particular Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine. Our analysis looks at two temporal windows: one from 1991 - the demise of the Eastern European free trade zone (COMECON) - to today, and the second zooming on the period following the enlargement process of 20 04-20 07. Our analysis points to an unfavourable turn of events for CEE countries, which appear to have experienced significant losses in their process of rapid integration in the world and EU economies. We are comparing these events in Central and Eastern Europe with the patterns of de-industrialisation and migration that took place in Latin America after a similar free trade shock starting in the 1970s. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.