EU CONVERGENCE, STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENTS AND GROWTH: IS SEE6 CATCHING UP?

During the past decade, ten new EU member states reached a high degree of market integration and macroeconomic stabilization as part of their accession process. The main challenge for these countries is to deal with large and potential volatile capital inflows and to achieve nominal convergence needed for adopting the euro. These challenges must be addressed within the scope of the limited fiscal policy. In the context of macroeconomic adjustment, macro-fiscal policies will be in the focus of macroeconomic policies in the years that follow. They need to focus on meeting the requirements for sustainability of EMU, and to assist in absorbing the effects of aggregate demand of large capital inflows. So in terms of macroeconomic convergence for SEE6 countries and the case of Macedonia, EU membership requires convergence of the Macedonian economy with that of the EU in realistic conditions, indicating income per capita and economic structure, and in nominal terms, meaning convergence of prices, inflation and interest rates.1