Warsaw, 26 April 2013, EU-10 + Croatia Meeting

Aktualizované dňa: 29.04.2013 06:00

Joint Communiqué

On 26 April 2013, the representatives of the EU-10 + Croatia countries met in Warsaw to discuss the issues related to their cooperation with the EBRD. They gathered for the fifth time, the previous meetings have taken place yearly since 2009. The following topics were discussed, in particular:

·  Macroeconomic outlook for the Central and East European countries;

·  Joint Actions Plan of the international financial institutions and its practical implication for Central, Eastern and Southern Europe;

·  EBRD’s engagement in EU-10 + Croatia and other strategic regions;

·  Principles for the graduation and post-graduation processes.

The participants of the meeting agreed that as of mid-2011, external conditions of their economies have been gradually deteriorating. The euro area crisis has affected both the real economy and the financial sector, especially the banking sector making it vulnerable to deleveraging risk. Ongoing fiscal consolidation was another major contributor to a weaker economic performance of the countries. The observed economic slowdown results first and foremost from weaker external demand and persistently low domestic demand. The growth of the countries still faces downside risks due to the unstable situation in the euro area. Therefore, they all welcomed the continued engagement of the EBRD in the region and its contribution to the international financial institutions’ anti-crisis agenda.

The representatives of the EU-10 + Croatia acknowledge Management’s efforts made to prepare the Post-graduation operational approach. The proposal has been noticeably improved since last year and the current format of operational approach seems to be more appropriate for this type of activities of the Bank. The representatives of the EU-10 + Croatia positively assess the fact that the document addresses a number of issues raised during the previous meeting in Bratislava last year, including, i.a., development of business activities, cross-border trade and investment, promoting regional cooperation and knowledge sharing between graduated and remaining countries of operations. They stand ready to further work with the Management to finalize the approach that would facilitate graduation and serve the Bank as a whole. They recall that the initiative to commence the graduation process should rest with the given country of operations and each country should be assessed individually and that the assessment should be prepared upon the initiative of the country of operations that intends to graduate.