WIIW The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies - Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche

Special Issue
30th Anniversary of the Visegrád Agreement

• Chart of the month: Strong economic convergence, but increasing political challenges
  by Alexandra Bykova and Richard Grieveson
   
• Opinion Corner: Looking backward, looking forward
  by Tamás Szemlér
  The Visegrád Group is celebrating its thirtieth anniversary. Over the past three decades, its member states have also become full-fledged members of the most important Euro-Atlantic integration structures. The group still offers important possibilities, but it should continue to be regarded as a piece in the complex Euro-Atlantic puzzle – rather than as an alternative to it.
   
• Time for a Paradigm Shift? 
  by Julia Grübler
  Despite the Visegrád countries’ generally positive economic performance since 1991 and their successful integration into the Central European manufacturing core, important challenges still lie ahead. Policies towards sustainable development should form a central plank of the agenda in the region over the coming years.
   
• FDI-based models and what the future may have in store for them
  by Magdolna Sass
  The economic strategy of the Visegrád countries has largely been based on attracting foreign direct investment (FDI). Although it showed some vulnerability during the global financial crisis, prompting governments to place greater emphasis on domestic economic players in certain sectors, the general reliance on foreign capital was left intact – and on some measures even increased. The trend towards de-globalisation, Industry 4.0-related developments, lack of viable powerful domestic economic growth engines and the COVID-19 pandemic may herald a renaissance in FDI-based growth (in a more inward-looking EU). And that is the most likely scenario for the Visegrád countries in the near future.
   
• Monthly and quarterly statistics for Central, East and Southeast Europe