Central European Free Trade Agreement

Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA)
Map of Europe (lighter grey) indicating the members of CEFTA (orange).
Official languages		7 languages Albanian Bosnian Croatian Macedonian Montenegrin Romanian Serbian
Type		Trade agreement
Membership		7 states UNMIK Albania Bosnia & Herzegovina Croatia Macedonia Moldova Montenegro Serbia UNMIK (Kosovo)
Leaders
-	Chair-in-Office	UNMIK (Kosovo)
-	Secretary-General	Renata Vitez
Establishment
-	Agreement signed	21 December 1992
Area
-	Total	309,125 km2 119,354 sq mi
Population
-	2007 estimate	30,936,824
-	Density	100.07/km2 259.2/sq mi
GDP (PPP)		2007 IMF estimate
-	Total	$236.6 billion
-	Per capita	7,649
Currency		7 currencies   ALL  Lek   BAM  Marka   HRK  Kuna   EUR  Euro   MKD  Denar   MDL  Leu   RSD  Dinar
Time zone		CET / EET (UTC+1 / +2)
-	Summer (DST)	CEST / EEST (UTC+2 / +3)

CEFTA history

CEFTA member states   EU member states 1992 – Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic and Slovakia) 2003 – Slovenia joined in 1996, Romania in 1997, Bulgaria in 1999 and Croatia in 2003. 2007 – Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia have joined the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and thus left CEFTA. – Macedonia joined in 2006, followed by Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo.

The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is a trade agreement between non-EU countries in Southeast Europe.

Members

As of 1 May 2007, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and on behalf of Kosovo.

Former parties are Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Their CEFTA memberships ended when they became member states of the European Union (EU). Croatia is set to join the EU in 2013.

Parties of agreement		Joined	Left
Poland		1992	2004
Hungary		1992	2004
Czechoslovakia (1992)	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 respect all WTO regulations
• any European Union Association Agreement
• Free Trade Agreements with the current CEFTA member states

Current members

Flag	State	Accession	Population	Area (km²)	Capital	GDP in millions (PPP)	GDP per capita (PPP)
	Albania	02007-01-011 January 2007	70063619778000000003,619,778	700428748000000000028,748	Tirana	22,823	7,163
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	02007-01-011 January 2007	70064590310000000004,590,310	700451209000000000051,209	Sarajevo	31,492	8,095
	Croatia	02003-01-011 January 2003	70064491543000000004,491,543	700456542000000000056,542	Zagreb	75,334	18,191
	Macedonia	02006-01-011 January 2006	70062061315000000002,061,315	700425333000000000025,333	Skopje	18,902	9,170
	Moldova	02007-01-011 January 2007	70064324450000000004,324,450	700433843000000000033,843	Chişinău	10,141	2,842
	Montenegro	02007-01-011 January 2007	7005678177000000000678,177	700414026000000000014,026	Podgorica	6,439	10,286
	Serbia	02007-01-011 January 2007	70067186000000000007,186,000	700488361000000000088,361	Belgrade	88,869	10,642
	Kosovo*	02007-01-011 January 2007	70061804838000000001,804,838	700410908000000000010,908	Pristina	4,000	2,300

History

Original agreement

The original CEFTA agreement was signed by the Visegrád Group countries, that is by Poland, Hungary and Czech and Slovak republics (at the time parts of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic) on 21 December 1992 in Kraków, Poland. It came into force in July 1994. Through CEFTA, participating countries hoped to mobilize efforts to integrate into Western European institutions and through this, to join 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 4 July 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 parties of the original agreement had now joined the EU and thus left CEFTA. Therefore it was decided to extend CEFTA to cover the rest 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 expansion of CEFTA to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Serbia, Montenegro and UNMIK on behalf of Kosovo was adopted. Accession of Ukraine has also been discussed. The new enlarged agreement was initialled on 9 November 2006 in Brussels and was signed on 19 December 2006 at the South East European Prime Ministers Summit in Bucharest. 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 blockade from Serbia and Bosnia that do not recognise the Republic of Kosovo. In July 2011 the government in Pristina sent security forces to two crossing points between Serbia and Kosovo in an unsuccessful attempt to enforce a ban on Serbian imports, which led to clashes.

Relations with the European Union

All former participating countries had previously signed association agreements with the EU, so in fact CEFTA has served as a preparation for full 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 is to join the EU in 2013. Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro are also 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)

Notes and references

Notes

a.

^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. Kosovo's independence has been recognised by 99 out of 193 United Nations member states.

External links

• CEFTA official website
• CEFTA Trade Portal
• Original CEFTA Treaty
• CEFTA 2006 Agreement