Central European Free Trade Agreement

The Central European Free Trade Agreement ( CEFTA ) is a trade agreement between non- EU countries, members of which are now mostly located in Southeastern Europe . Founded by representatives of Poland , Hungary and Czechoslovakia , CEFTA expanded to Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Bulgaria , Croatia , Czech Republic , Macedonia , Moldova , Montenegro , Romania , Serbia ,Slovakia , Slovenia and the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) on behalf of Kosovo .

Once a member country joins the European Union (EU), its CEFTA membership ends. As of 1 July 2013, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and the UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo.

Members

As of 1 July 2013, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Macedonia , Moldova , Montenegro , Serbia and Kosovo (as UNMIK ).

Train parts are Bulgaria , Croatia , Czech Republic , Hungary , Poland , Romania , Slovakia and Slovenia . Their CEFTA memberships ended when they became member states of the European Union (EU).

Parties of agreement		joined	left
poland		1992	2004
hungary		1992	2004
Czechoslovakia	Czech Republic (1993)	1992	2004
	Slovakia (1993)		2004
slovenia		1996	2004
romania		1997	2007
bulgaria		1999	2007
croatia		2003	2013
Macedonia		2006	–
albania		2007	–
Bosnia and Herzegovina		2007	–
moldova		2007	–
Montenegro		2007	–
serbia		2007	–
Kosovo		2007	–

Membership criteria

Former Poznań Declaration criteria:

• World Trade Organization membership
• European Union Association Agreement with provisions for future full membership
• Free Trade Agreements with the current CEFTA member states

Current criteria since Zagreb meeting in 2005:

• WTO membership or commitment to compliance
• any European Union Association Agreement
• Free Trade Agreements with the current CEFTA member states

Current members

Flag	Contracting party	Accession	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	GDP in millions (PPP) [1]	GDP per capita (PPP) [1]
	Republic of Albania	2007-01-01	2787615	28,748	Tirana	38526	13.396
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2007-01-01	3839265	51.209	Sarajevo	47.048	12.260
	Republic of Macedonia	2006-01-01	2059794	25.333	Skopje	33748	16.243
	Republic of Moldova	2007-01-01	3559500	33.843	Chisinau	21424	6.044
	Montenegro	2007-01-01	621.240	14.026	Podgorica	11555	18.539
	Republic of Serbia	2007-01-01	7241295	88,361	Belgrade	120466	17.285
	Kosovo ( UNMIK )	2007-01-01	1798645	10.908	Pristina	20672	–

History

Original agreement

The original CEFTA was signed by the Visegrád Group countries, which is by Poland, Hungary and Czech and Slovak republics (on the time of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic ) on 21 December 1992 in Kraków , Poland. 1994. Through CEFTA, participates in the European Union’s efforts to engage European institutions through this European political, economic, security and legal systems, thereby consolidating democracy and free-market economics.

The agreement was amended by the agreements signed on 11 September 1995 in Brno and on July 4, 2003 in Bled .

Slovenia joined CEFTA in 1996, Romania in 1997, Bulgaria in 1999, Croatia in 2003 and Macedonia in 2006.

2006 agreement

All of the parts of the original agreement CEFTA. Therefore, it was decided to extend the scope of the Balkan States, which already had completed a matrix of bilateral free trade agreements in the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe . On 6 April 2006, at the South East Europe Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest , a joint declaration on the expansion of CEFTA to Albania , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Moldova , Serbia , Montenegro and UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo was adopted. ^[2]Accession of Ukraine has also been discussed. ^[3] The new enlarged agreement was initiated on 9 November 2006 in Brussels and was signed on 19 December 2006 at the South East European Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest. ^[4] The agreement went into effect on 26 July 2007 for Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova and Montenegro, on 22 August for Croatia, on 24 October for Serbia, and on 22 November 2007 for Bosnia and Herzegovina. The aim of the agreement was to establish a free trade zone in the region by 31 December 2010.

After the declaration of independence of Kosovo on 17 February 2008 UNMIK continued to represent Kosovo at all CEFTA meetings. At the end of 2008 Kosovo changed its customs stamps replacing UNMIK with Kosovo. This resulted in a trade bloc of Serbia and Bosnia that does not recognize the Republic of Kosovo. ^[5] The government in Pristina retaliated by imposing its own blockade on imports from Serbia. This article was published in July 2011. ^[6]

Relations with the European Union

ECFTA has been in charge of the European Union membership. Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia joined the EU on 1 May 2004, with Bulgaria and Romania following suit on 1 January 2007. Croatia joined the EU on 1 July 2013.

Montenegro and Serbia -have-been Undergoing EU accession talks since 2012 and 2013, whereas Albania and Macedonia are official candidate countries of the EU.

At the EU’s recommendation, the future members prepared for membership by establishing free trade areas. A large proportion of CEFTA foreign trade is with EU countries.

See also

• Economy of Europe
• Free trade areas in Europe
• European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
• Enlargement of the European Union
• Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe (includes a matrix of bilateral FTAs)
• Mercosur

Notes and references

Notes

at.

^ Kosovois the subject of a territorial row entre lesRepublic of Kosovoand theRepublic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo has beenunilaterally declared independenceon 17 February 2008, butSerbia continues to claimits share of itsown sovereign territory. The two governmentsbegan to normalize relationsin 2013, as part of theBrussels Agreement. Kosovo HAS RECEIVED formal recognition as an independent state from112out of 193United Nationsmember states.

References