IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva announced the initiative in Brussels, saying EU enlargement is once again high on the European agenda and could provide a significant boost to economic growth across Europe. The new center is expected to begin operations within the next few weeks, with support from Italy, the European Commission, Greece and Luxembourg, as well as beneficiary countries.
SEETAC will provide policy advice, technical assistance and capacity development to countries in the EU accession process. It will complement the IMF’s existing center in Vienna, which provides training to countries including Ukraine.
Georgieva said EU membership offers candidate countries a major opportunity to accelerate growth and improve living standards, but stressed that the benefits depend on successful domestic reforms and stronger productivity.
According to her, productivity accounts for around two-thirds of the overall increase in income associated with EU accession.
She also emphasized that productivity does not automatically increase with EU membership. It depends on investment, innovation, competition and the ability of local and foreign companies to take advantage of new opportunities created by integration.
The IMF chief argued that successful enlargement would benefit not only candidate countries but also existing EU members, particularly at a time when Europe is facing demographic and fiscal pressures, rising geopolitical tensions and weaker global growth. She also called for deeper integration of the EU single market, saying that a larger Europe would be stronger if it were also more integrated.
