Реформирование стран Центральной Европы в условиях расширения Евросоюза

Abstract

Post-socialist transformation of the CES Countries has become a regular process requiring the appropriate economic strategy and policy. It can already be stated that democratization and market relations are deeply rooted in these countries. That does not mean however that the process itself is over. There is the question of what impact the hard consequences of transition to a market economy will make on united Europe which already includes almost all former socialist allies. Belarus is also implementing reforms aimed at the creation of an efficient market economy which sufficiently competitive on the international level to meet the demands of the overwhelming majority of its people. The end of the reforms depends essentially not on the success of the hit-and-miss attempts. Belarus has considerable opportunities to assess the mistakes other countries made during their structural reforms, in the process of their establishing the institutions of a market economy and of solving social issues. It was also able to evaluate their chances for integration into the European and global economy and to avoid its own mistakes. The integration policies adopted by the Western neighbours which have only until recently been Belarus’ friends and partners within the socialist system united by the Council of Economic Mutual Assistance (COMECON) give a good chance to considerate their controversial nature as well as the prospect of development of the other CES states. The governments of these countries declared the accession to the EU to be their priority, regarding it as one of the main guarantors of stable economic development and security (along with NATO). By the end of the 1990s the economies of almost all post-socialist countries started to suffer from serious «growth fatigue». Major manufacturers of material goods (the people, in other words) of these countries expressed a growing dissatisfaction with the methods of reforms. It is obvious that a psychological factor worked here: there is a big gap between expectations and the level of their satisfaction. The people tend to think that the economy is not working well, even if the rate of consumption rate is growing. However, these societies believe that within the EU it will be easier to overcome the challenges of globalisation which has become an unevitable and necessary process and is understood as a means of integration of capital, goods and labour markets the currently which are functioning separate from each other. The experience of involvement into the globalisation processes is extremely important for Belarus. There is no alternative to this involvement (nor to the general market economy model) and this applies more strongly to Belarus than to its neighbours. But the final result will depend on its own development strategy level and the growth policy; however the risk of globalization damage may be higher. The experience of the Belarusian neighbours shows that such government actions as the rapid «shattering» of state foundations during the transition to the market economy without any proper preparation for the loosening of state control over the economy as well as the extremism and incompetence of the authorities themselves has led to negative and unwanted consequences which eventually resulted in corruption corruption and crime in management and the unreadiness of legislation to be systemically transformed.