Whither Hungary and the European communities?

Alfred Tovias and Sam Laird

No 584, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Recent political changes in Eastern Europe will help to cement improving economic relations with the European Communities (EC). Hungary has little alternative but to seek to continue strengthing these ties. It faces important supply constraints and needs injections of fresh capital to help it gear up to seize market opportunities. In the past, Hungary has been somewhere near the bottom of the EC's pyramid of privileges as far as tariff and non-tariff barrier (NTB) treatment are concerned. Hungary has been examining the options of applying for EC membership, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) membership, and examining other forms of association such as those the EC has with a number of Mediterranean countries. From a simulation exercise, the authors conclude that membership of the EC could lead to an expansion of Hungarian exports to the Communities of some 48 percent, with meats, iron and steel, fruit and vegetables, textiles, and clothing being the main sectors to gain. This results from setting tariffs to zero and eliminating non-tariff barriers. If EC or EFTA membership is ruled out, Hungary must seek a closer relationship with the EC, encompassing agriculture as well as manufactures, and covering tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

Keywords: Construction Industry; Common Carriers Industry; Food & Beverage Industry; Pulp & Paper Industry; Plastics & Rubber Industry; Trade Policy; International Trade and Trade Rules; Rules of Origin; Energy and Mining; Business Cycles and Stabilization Policies; Trade and Multilateral Issues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1991-01-31
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/610701468751750824/pdf/multi0page.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:584

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20433. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Roula I. Yazigi ().