On November 30, GMF hosted the Washington, DC release of a new report titled “Whither growth in central and eastern Europe? Policy lessons for an integrated Europe.” The report, done in cooperation with the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel and the Vienna Institute for International Economics, focused on the impact of the economic crisis on Eastern Europe countries, which have been particularly affected. Today, economic recovery is slowly returning to the region, but at varying levels in different countries. The experiences and developments of the crisis led to a number of questions regarding the region’s pre-crisis development model. Can and should the model of integration with Western Europe be revived? Should it be repaired or reformed? Bruegel and the Vienna Institute for International Economics have formed an expert group of ten economists to find answers for these questions and to lay down economic policy priorities for exchange rate and fiscal policies as well as financial regulation.

The findings of the report were presented by Zsolt Darvas, a resident fellow at Bruegel since 2008 and co-organizer of the expert group. After the presentation, Bas Bakker, Head of Emerging Europe Regional Division at the International Monetary Fund, provided his assessment and analysis of the developments. The following discussion was moderated by GMF’s Vice President of Programs, Ivan Vejvoda.