votes: CONFERENCE EU ENLARGEMENT 5 YEARS AFTER The conference was organised on 2nd March 2009 in Prague by the Czech Presidency in co operation with the European Commission at the occasion of the 5th anniversary of the biggest EU enlargement It should review the effects of the 2004 enlargement on economic and labour market developments both in the old and the new Member States of the EU The main focus will be on the effects of enlargement in the three following areas macro financial stability the EU Internal market and labour market mobility within the EU Studies by the European Commission the International Monetary Fund the OECD and the Brussels think tank Bruegel will be presented at the conference The results of the conference will be presented and discussed by several EU Council configurations Economic and Financial Affairs Council Competitiveness Council and Employment Social Affairs Health and Consumer Affairs Council Miroslav Kalousek Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic 106 EU matters more photos and electronic version available on www leadersmagazine cz From left Joaquín Almunía EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs José Manuel Barroso President of the European Commission and Mirek Topolánek Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
107 Joaquín Almunía EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs From left Miroslav Kalousek Minister of Finance of the Czech Republic Joaquín Almunía EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs and Mirek Topolánek Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Leszek Balcerowicz Warsaw School of Economics From left Mario Monti President of Bocconi University Vladimír Špidla EU Commissioner for Employment Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities and Alexandr Vondra Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs the Czech Republic EU Enlargement Pays Off 1st of March a high level conference on EU Enlargement Five Years After organised in Prague by the Czech Presidency in cooperation with the European Commission began to discuss the benefits of the enlargement to financial stability the internal market and the mobility of labour within the EU The latest data from Eurostat show for example that after the enlargement exports from the EU 15 to the new Member States rose by EUR 121.17 billion to EUR 268.93 billion in 2008 The overwhelmingly positive impact on the European internal market has proved to be the principal argument in favour of enlargement said Alexandr Vondra Czech Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs At the request of the Czech EU Presidency the Commission has published a study of economic achievements and challenges resulting from the enlargements in 2004 and 2007 According to the report the enlargement added 0.5 percentage points of GDP growth annually in each old Member State on average In the twelve new Member States the GDP grew on average by 1.75 percentage points every year From left Werner Weidenfeld Director of Centre for Applied Policy Research University of Munich Joaquín Almunía EU Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Ivan Mikloš Member of Parliament former Minister of Finance Slovakia and Mirek Topolánek Prime Minister of the Czech Republic From left Mirek Topolánek Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and Quentin Peel International Affairs Editor Financial Times and Moderator of the Conference
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