What does a manager operating in the countries joining the EU need to know about enlargement?
I think the environment will continue to become more favorable: The final amendments to current rules, the fine-tuning of the legal and institutional frameworks, and the execution and enforcement of legislation [already enacted] will continue to improve. Q: Will there be a psychological impact on investment? A: I don’t see a major impact. The attractiveness of the Central and East European countries is growing…but the major breakthrough was the invitation to join NATO [the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999]. That created an entirely different environment, and sovereign risk was reduced dramatically. Official EU membership should give that trend further impetus. Q: Is there any potential negative impact? A: What makes me a little scared is the substantial appreciation of the currencies of candidate countries. It’s not just that this is exceeding the productivity differential. The problem is that on top of the inevitable and positive appreciation of the currencies
