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2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the EU’s Northern enlargement, which, after several years of negotiations, made Austria, Finland and Sweden EU members on 1 January 1995. There is hardly any other step in foreign and economic policy for a European country in the 2nd half of the 20th (and in the 21st) century that could be more far-reaching and important than EU membership. It is thus worth looking back on what EU membership has entailed for the three countries. The OeNB has prepared two volumes to study the issue in some detail. First, a special edition of Monetary Policy and the Economy, Q1-Q2/2020 contains a collection of analyses focusing on aspects pertaining primarily on Austria. Second, a collection of contributions covering perspectives from all three “Northern EU enlargement countries” are compiled in a conference volume.
This online workshop, jointly organized by the OeNB and SUERF presents main findings from both volumes, in order to make the analysis known to a broader audience and in order to seek views and feedback from a wider public.
Conference Proceedings No 2020/2 “25 years of “Northern” EU enlargement” (pdf)
Authors’ presentations of main findings from the Special Edition of Monetary Policy and the Economy, Q1-Q2/2020 – 25 Jahre EU-Mitgliedschaft Österreichs – Stabilität und Wachstum durch Integration
Session 1: The impact on the Austrian economy
25 Years of Austria’s EU membership
Fritz Breuss, Vienna University of Economy and Business, WIFO
Convergence, production integration and specialization in Europe since 1995
Robert Stehrer, wiiw
Development of corporate productivity and profitability in Austria during EU membership
Gerhard Fenz, Martin Schneider, Klaus Vondra, OeNB, Economic Analysis Division
Assessing the impact of Austria’s EU accession and of enlargement on the domestic labor market
Alfred Stiglbauer, OeNB, Economic Analysis Division
Free movement of services with the EU’s Single Market: what have been the effects on Austria?
Erwin Kolleritsch, Statistics Austria
Patricia Walter, OeNB, External Statistics, Financial Accounts and Monetary and Financial Statistics Division
Long-term drivers of inflation in Austria and the effects of EU accession
Teresa Messner, OeNB, Foreign Research Division
Fabio Rumler, OeNB, Economic Analysis Division
Session 2: Impact on the Austrian banks’ strategy, competition policymaking and economic policy making
Austrian banks’ expansion to Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe
Stefan Kavan, Tina Wittenberger, OeNB, Financial Stability and Macroprudential Supervision Division
EU economic policy recommendations and Austria’s implementation score
Maria Auböck, Federal Chancellery Republic Austria
Doris Prammer, OeNB, Economic Analysis Division
Welcome and Introduction
Chair: Robert Holzmann, Governor, OeNBNote: Studies underlying authors’ presentations in this session can be found in an OeNB-SUERF conference volume (forthcoming).
Session 1: Global historical context and EU impact on economic performance
Covalization: Europe on the Rack Between Globalization and Covid (video lecture)
Harold James, Princeton University
The challenges and opportunities in the digitalization of production
Christopher Warhurst, University of Warwick, Stephen Dhondt, KU Leuven
Session 2: EU membership and economic governance
The development of the EU budget – impact on Austria, Finland and Sweden
Walpurga Koehler-Toeglhofer and Lukas Reiss, OeNB
Revamping Policy Governance in Austria
Heinz Handler, WIFO
Session 3: Monetary and financial integration
After 25 Years as faithful members of the EU: public support for the euro and trust in the ECB in Austria, Finland and Sweden
Lars Jonung, University of Lund, Felix Roth, University of Hamburg
Finland and monetary policy through three crises
Tuomas Välimäki and Meri Obstbaum, Bank of Finland
How did the framework for European banking supervision evolve since the EU’s Northern enlargement?
Michael Boss, Michael Kaden and Markus Schwaiger, OeNB
Financial integration in the Nordic-Baltic region vis-à-vis the EU: a Swedish perspective (video lecture)
Stefan Ingves, David Farelius and Magnus Jonsson, Sveriges Riksbank
