Central Europe ponders euro - by carter Dougherty and Judy Dempsey
After several years of political stability accompanied by brisk economic growth, the countries of Central Europe are facing their toughest challenge since joining the European Union in 2004. From Poland to Slovakia, tangled post-election politics have cast doubt on the region's ability to push through the changes necessary to swap national currencies for the most potent symbol of European integration, the euro. The region, which introduced painful changes at breakneck speed in order to fulfill the criteria for EU membership, has spent the past nine months electing nationalist conservative governments, as in Poland, or ungainly coalitions of socialists and rightist populist parties, as in Slovakia. With those governments now grasping for practical policies, or simply struggling to preserve a working majority in Parliament, political stasis has become more common in Central Europe than speedy change.
In one sense, these countries are simply catching up with their West European peers, as skepticism about the benefits of the free market bubbles up after years of effective, but wrenching, changes, and acts as a brake on quick action, analysts said.
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