EGP of Eastern Europe briefly. General characteristics of Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe as a historical and geographical region includes: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, countries formed as a result of the collapse of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia), Albania, Latvia, Lithuania , Estonia.

There is also an opinion that the countries of this region should be classified as either Central or Middle Europe, since it would be more correct to call Eastern Europe Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the European part of Russia.

But the name “Eastern Europe” stuck with the countries of this region and is recognized throughout the world.

Geographical position. Natural resources

The countries of Eastern Europe represent a single natural territorial massif stretching from the Baltic to the Black and Adriatic Seas. The region and adjacent countries are based on an ancient Precambrian platform, covered by a cover of sedimentary rocks, as well as an area of ​​Alpine folding.

An important feature of all countries in the region is their transit position between the countries of Western Europe and the CIS.

The countries of Eastern Europe differ from each other in geographical location, configuration, size of territory, and wealth of natural resources.

Natural resource reserves include: coal (Poland, Czech Republic), oil and natural gas (Romania), iron ores (countries of the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Slovakia), bauxite (Hungary), chromite (Albania).

In general, it must be said that the region is experiencing a shortage of resources, and in addition, it is a striking example of the “incompleteness” of a set of minerals. Thus, Poland has large reserves of coal, copper ores, and sulfur, but almost no oil, gas, or iron ore. In Bulgaria, on the contrary, there is no coal, although there are significant reserves of lignite, copper ores, and polymetals.

Population

The region's population is about 130 million people, but the demographic situation, which is difficult throughout Europe, is the most alarming in Eastern Europe. Despite the active demographic policy pursued over several decades, natural population growth is very small (less than 2%) and continues to decline. Bulgaria and Hungary are even experiencing natural population decline. The main reason for this is the disruption of the age-sex structure of the population as a result of the Second World War.

In some countries, natural increase is higher than the regional average (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia), and it is the largest in Albania - 20%.

The largest country in the region is Poland (about 40 million people), the smallest is Estonia (about 1.5 million people).

The population of Eastern Europe has a complex ethnic composition, but one can note the predominance of Slavic peoples. Of the other peoples, the most numerous are Romanians, Albanians, Hungarians, and Lithuanians. Poland, Hungary, and Albania have the most homogeneous national composition. Lithuania.

Eastern Europe has always been an arena of national and ethnic conflicts. After the collapse of the socialist system, the situation became more complicated, especially on the territory of the most multinational country in the region - Yugoslavia, where the conflict escalated into an interethnic war.

The most urbanized country in Eastern Europe is the Czech Republic (3/4 of the population lives in cities). There are quite a lot of urban agglomerations in the region, the largest of which are Upper Silesia (in Poland) and Budapest (in Hungary). But most countries are characterized by historically formed small towns and villages, and the Baltic countries are characterized by hamlets.

Farm

The countries of Eastern Europe today are not characterized by a pronounced socio-economic unity. But in general we can say that _. in the 2nd half of the 20th century. Great changes have occurred in the economies of Eastern European countries. Firstly, industries developed at a faster pace - by the 80s, Europe had become one of the most industrial regions of the world, and secondly, previously very backward regions also began to develop industrially (For example, Slovakia in the former Czechoslovakia, Moldova in Romania, northeast Poland). Such results became possible thanks to the implementation of regional policy.

Energy

Due to a shortage of oil reserves, this region is focused on coal, most of the electricity is generated by thermal power plants (more than 60%), but hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants also play an important role. One of the largest nuclear power plants was built in the region - Kozloduy in Bulgaria.

Metallurgy

In the post-war period, the industry actively grew and developed in all countries of the region, with non-ferrous metallurgy relying mainly on its own raw materials, and ferrous metallurgy on imported ones.

Mechanical engineering

The industry is also represented in all countries, but is most developed in the Czech Republic (primarily machine tool manufacturing, production of household appliances and computer equipment); Poland and Romania are distinguished by the production of metal-intensive machines and structures, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia - by the electrical industry; In addition, shipbuilding is developed in Poland and Estonia.

Chemical industry

The chemical industry of the region lags far behind that of Western Europe due to the lack of raw materials for the most advanced branches of chemistry - oil. But we can still note the pharmaceuticals of Poland and Hungary, the glass industry of the Czech Republic.

Agriculture of the region

Mainly meets the food needs of the population. Under the influence of scientific and technological revolution, significant changes occurred in the structure of the economy of the countries of Eastern Europe: the agro-industrial complex emerged, and specialization of agricultural production took place. It was most clearly manifested in grain farming and in the production of vegetables, fruits, and grapes.

The economic structure of the region is heterogeneous: in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and the Baltic countries, the share of livestock farming exceeds the share of crop farming; in the rest, the ratio is still the opposite.

Due to the diversity of soil and climatic conditions, several zones of crop production can be distinguished: wheat is grown everywhere, but in the north (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) rye and potatoes play an important role, in the central part of the subregion vegetable growing and horticulture are cultivated, and the “southern” countries specialize on subtropical crops.

The main crops grown in the region are wheat, corn, vegetables, and fruits.

The main wheat and corn regions of Eastern Europe were formed within the Middle and Lower Danube lowlands and the Danube hilly plain (Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria).

Hungary has achieved the greatest success in grain growing.

Vegetables, fruits, and grapes are cultivated almost everywhere in the subregion, but there are areas where they primarily determine the specialization of agriculture. These countries and regions also have their own specialization in terms of product range. For example, Hungary is famous for its winter varieties of apples, grapes, and onions; Bulgaria - oilseeds; Czech Republic - hops, etc.

Animal husbandry. The northern and central countries of the region specialize in dairy and meat and dairy cattle breeding and pig breeding, while the southern countries specialize in mountain pasture meat and wool animal husbandry.

Transport

In Eastern Europe, which lies at the crossroads of routes that have long connected the eastern and western parts of Eurasia, the transport system has been developing over many centuries. Nowadays, railway transport is the leader in terms of transportation volume, BUT road and sea transport are also intensively developing. The presence of major ports contributes to the development of foreign economic relations, shipbuilding, ship repair, and fishing.

Intraregional differences

The countries of Eastern Europe can be conditionally divided into 3 groups according to the commonality of their EGP, resources, and level of development.

1. Northern group: Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. These countries are still characterized by a low degree of integration, but there are common tasks in the development of the maritime economy.
2. Central group: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary. The economy of the first two countries is of a clearly industrial nature. The Czech Republic ranks first in the region in terms of industrial output per capita.
3. Southern group: Romania, Bulgaria, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Albania. In the past, these were the most backward countries, and now, despite major changes in their economy, the countries of this group lag behind the countries of the 1st and 2nd groups in most indicators.

Political-geographical characteristics

Of Eastern Europe.

The geographical location of the region greatly influenced its entire development: it is located at the junction between two civilizations, for a long time it was at the junction between two major centers of power. I would like to make a reservation right away: I mean Eastern Europe without the CIS countries and Russia, but with the Baltic countries, since, in my opinion, the CIS countries belong to a different formation both politically and, first of all, economically. This border position influenced the entire history of the region. Over the course of the 20th century alone, the outlines of the states included in it changed several times, old states disappeared and new states appeared. The world's major powers fought (and are fighting) for control over this region. It is not for nothing that many of the classics of geopolitics (Mackinder, Spykman) considered this region, from a geopolitical point of view, one of the most important, if not the most important, in the world.

By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the region's territory was divided between large countries - the Russian Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary. Only in the south, in the Balkans, were there small states that emerged as a result of the national liberation struggle against the Turkish yoke, with the large and direct participation of Russia, in the 19th century: Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, as well as Montenegro, which appeared earlier (independent of the Ottoman empire since 1796). After the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, the Ottoman Empire almost completely lost its possessions in Europe: only the small area that Turkey currently owns remained. This ended the history of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Europe, which lasted from the mid-15th century (from the capture of Constantinople in 1453). The Islamic threat to Europe, which had weakened throughout the 19th century, finally receded into the background (at least until now, when some signs of its revival again appeared, albeit in a different form). Also, as a result of these wars, the independent state of Albania emerged (independent since 1912). The next important stage, which completely changed the situation not only in the region, but throughout the world, was the First World War. It is worth noting that the formal reason for its beginning was precisely the events in the Balkans (the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo and the subsequent ultimatum to Serbia from Austria-Hungary). As a result of this war, an entire historical and geopolitical era changed, and a new type of state emerged - the socialist one (USSR). The Central European powers lost their power: Austria-Hungary disappeared, and Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia arose from its ruins. The Polish state was revived on the lands of the former Russian Empire and Germany, and Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia appeared on purely Russian lands. All this was done not only thanks to the national liberation movement in these countries, but also, primarily, under the influence of Great Britain, France and the United States, which sought to weaken their rivals in Central and Eastern Europe as much as possible and create a buffer belt of small, easily controlled states.

During the short Versailles era that followed (1918-1939/1941), both main rivals of the Atlantic states - Germany and the USSR - constantly increased their influence in the region, and by its end they achieved full influence in all states included in it, including. h. through direct military intervention (the USSR's seizure of the Baltic republics and Bessarabia in 1940, Germany's seizure of Czechoslovakia in 1938, the division of Poland between the USSR and Germany in 1939).

After World War II, the situation in the region changed dramatically. The Soviet Union became the dominant force in it, establishing its military presence in it. For a long time (until the end of the 80s), this region became a zone of exclusive influence of the USSR. All attempts to get out of control were harshly suppressed (GDR, 1953 - it should be noted that at this time East Germany was included in Eastern Europe; Hungary, 1956; Czechoslovakia, 1968). These repressions, as well as the economic lag behind Western European countries, took their toll: as soon as the USSR weakened, the communist regimes in these countries were overthrown, and the region itself began to rapidly come under the influence of Euro-Atlantic states. Almost all countries (the only exception is Yugoslavia) set a course for early accession to the EU and NATO. Now this process continues: Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have already joined NATO, and several more countries are awaiting their turn. Thus, a barrier has again been created between Western Europe and Russia from a number of small, easily controlled and extremely negatively disposed states towards Russia. The US and NATO almost completely control the situation in the region. Russia's only ally, Yugoslavia, was and is being subjected to aggression and sanctions from the United States and its allies (during the war with Croatian separatists, during the war in Bosnia, during the events in Kosovo; economic sanctions have not yet been lifted). Thanks to the complete agreement on the part of Yeltsin and the then Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev, Russia lost almost all of its positions in Eastern Europe in the early 90s.

To summarize, we can say that Eastern Europe, as a strategically important region, has always been an arena of struggle between major geopolitical forces: Germany and Russia, Germany, the Entente states and the USSR, the USSR and NATO, NATO (and in fact the USA) and Russia. Depending on the results of this struggle, the political map of the region took shape. At the moment, the region is under the full influence of the United States and Euro-Atlantic structures.

What is the current face of the region? At the moment it consists of 15 states (Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Yugoslavia). All of them are republics, almost all are unitary (except Yugoslavia), the majority are presidential. At the moment, all of them have democratic regimes (until recently, Yugoslavia maintained a quasi-democratic regime). In terms of area, almost all countries are small (Slovenia has the smallest area - about 20 thousand sq. km), only Romania (about 237 thousand sq. km) and Poland (about 313 thousand sq. km) can be classified as average By population - 11 countries have a population of less than 10 million people. (Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Estonia); the rest have populations ranging from about 10 million (Hungary, Czech Republic) to about 40 (Poland). In economic terms, all these countries have transition economies with all the problems associated with the transition process. The poorest country is Albania (GDP per capita - $1,370 in 1997), the richest is the Czech Republic ($10,800 per person). In terms of economic scale, only 2 countries - Poland (GDP - 280.7 billion dollars in 1997) and the Czech Republic (GDP - 111.9 billion dollars) can be classified as medium. The rest belong to the group of states with small GDP (less than $100 billion). As for the nature of geospace, we can say that all countries lie in the near periphery of the Western European pole of power. It is worth noting that previously these countries belonged to the near periphery, but to the Soviet pole.

Thus, we can conclude that the region as a whole is quite homogeneous - all the states included in it belong to the group of small ones in terms of population, area and economy. The exceptions (in different categories) are Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. However, their indicators are approaching those of the previous group of countries. The only exception is, perhaps, Poland, which stands out strongly in terms of area, population and economic scale, and claims to be a regional leader. However, it, like the rest of the states in the region, belongs to the group of moderately developed countries with a post-socialist type of economy.

Previously, all the states of the region had fairly close ties with each other within the socialist camp: this included participation in the CMEA and all its structures (all countries except Yugoslavia and Albania, but the first was an observer), and participation in the Warsaw Pact Organization. Now the situation has changed. Despite the fact that almost all states have declared their intention to join the EU and NATO (and three have already been accepted into NATO), the degree of integration that was before no longer exists. True, there are several subregional groupings: the “Visegrad Group” - a customs union that has united Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary since 1992 (Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, as well as Ukraine and Belarus are planning to join), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), which unites ( since 1992) 11 countries of the Black Sea region and adjacent to it, in particular Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, the Council of the Baltic Sea States (since 1992) - also includes 11 states, in particular Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. In addition, there are several organizations and agreements (Baltic Assembly, Transit Charter, etc.) uniting the former Baltic republics of the USSR. Perhaps the greatest integration within the region is taking place here (or rather, until recently, it was happening until recently).

Naturally, as in almost the entire post-socialist space, there were problems and even “hot spots”. Some conflicts have roots in the distant past - in particular, the hottest point is the territory of the former Yugoslavia (the war with Croatia, the war in Bosnia, the conflict in Kosovo). Some arose as a result of border changes during the communist era - the border conflicts of Latvia and Lithuania, Latvia and Russia, Estonia and Russia. In addition, Germany occupies a special position, having not completely lost hope of returning to the 1937 borders. The situation in Albania is highly unstable, which is explained by economic reasons (the collapse of the economy, low living standards of the population, high unemployment). In general, the region is not highly stable - this is what is called the “arc of instability,” or rather, it is part of it. This is also due to history - the Balkans, for example, have never been a calm place, and the entire region, as I mentioned above, has often been the scene of a battle between major geopolitical forces.

In conclusion, the region, although not endowed with any major natural resources, is very important from a geopolitical point of view due to its geographical location. This was also emphasized by the classics of geopolitics. It is because of its importance that very often major conflicts began here - an example of this would be the First World War and the Second World War (which, as is known, began with the German invasion of Poland) wars. Therefore, maintaining peace in the region is one of the most important tasks of modern politicians.

References.

1. Dugin A. G. “Fundamentals of Geopolitics”, M., 1999.

2. Kaledin N.V. “Political Geography”, St. Petersburg, 1995.

3. Kaledin N.V., Yatmanova V.V. “Political and economic geography of the world: political map and geography of the world economy” St. Petersburg, 1999.

Without the European Union. The results of the eRe idea of ​​a united Europe, which has been in the air over the past 10 years, can be observed in the example of Spain. Thus, at a recent meeting of the finances of EU member states, a general opinion was expressed that the Spanish economy will experience growth this year. “The worst is behind us,” says Pedro Solbes, EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs...

In the early 90s. Eastern European countries began the transition to market principles of economic life. The transformation of socio-economic systems in each of them was accompanied by a noticeable decline in production,

Declining standard of living. In the last years of the last century, deep economic and political transformations began, aimed at increasing the efficiency of the economy, establishing stable market relations, creating preconditions for its balanced and sustainable growth, improving the conditions and quality of life of the population, democratizing social relations, etc.

Economic reform was initially based primarily on the concept of “shock therapy,” which provided for the rapid provision of financial stabilization and price liberalization, the development of all forms of ownership, the expansion of the rights of economic entities, and the expansion of the domestic market. However, experience has shown that the transition to market relations requires long-term transformation at the macro- and microeconomic levels. This necessitated the implementation of a long-term strategy of economic transformation, which provides for structural restructuring, the development of financial markets, solving problems of employment and social protection, and ensuring human rights.

Each of the Eastern European countries had to face serious problems that had accumulated in the previous period. New problems were no less acute, most of which arose as a result of not always successful economic policies. Among them are external debt, inflation, and a decline in living standards. For example, according to official data, 29% of the population in Ukraine are below the poverty line, in Belarus - 27%, in Russia - 18%.

One of the important problems of the region, especially in post-Soviet states, is the insignificant volumes of foreign investment, which hinders economic development. The most attractive countries for foreign investment are the countries of the western territories - Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, due to their high level of economic development, widespread privatization of the economy, and effective tax policy. The sale of property to foreign investors, in addition to significant budget revenues, opened up opportunities for the technical modernization of enterprises, the introduction of new production and management technologies, and the involvement of experienced managers in cooperation. Foreign investment is directed primarily to the automotive, electrical, chemical, paper, light and food industries. Modernization of enterprises and increasing the competitiveness of products determine the penetration of Eastern European goods into new foreign markets, that is, they stimulate exports.

In Russia, the role of the state in the economy is decreasing, but it is still significant - the state owns up to 40% of fixed assets, and it carries out more than 20% of all investments through the budget. Nowadays large businesses are especially active, but in terms of sales volumes the leaders are predominantly fuel and energy and raw materials companies. In most industries, small businesses are poorly developed - they account for only 10% of workers, 2% of fixed assets and about 5% of investments.

One of the most important indicators of the success of economic transformations is economic growth. In Eastern Europe, there has been a slight increase in GDP growth rates after the recession of 1998-1999, largely caused by the financial crisis in Russia. By the new global economic crisis of 2008-2009, the average GDP growth in the region was 6.6% (the best results of GDP growth were achieved in Estonia - 10.5%, Latvia - 10.2%, Belarus - 9.2%, Lithuania - 7.5%, Russia - 6.4%; the worst indicator in Ukraine - 2.6%, as a result of a sharp decline after a rapid rise in 2004, when the increase was 12%).

There is a significant contrast between individual countries in the region in today's GDP growth rates. Countries that have become more deeply integrated into European structures have higher economic growth potential compared to most post-Soviet countries.

In particular, the political will of the governments and peoples of a number of Eastern European countries to implement structural reforms and support European financial and economic structures contributed to the accession of 7 countries in the region to the EU: Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. Other countries in the region have a distant prospect of joining the EU and must prove their readiness through appropriate practical measures to reform their political and economic systems. But existing facts indicate that the policies of candidate countries for joining the EU contributed to the economic stabilization of the region and the attraction of significant amounts of foreign capital into their economies.

One of the factors for high GDP growth is the increase in domestic investment and consumer demand. It is thanks to this that Poland has achieved significant success. The growth in consumer demand was due to an increase in the average level of real wages. Economic growth in the Czech Republic was stimulated by increased investment in the private sector of the economy. The growth of retail turnover is a prerequisite for increasing the real income of the population through the provision of services to foreign tourists and profits from trade. In Hungary, the source of economic growth was increased exports and a significant increase in foreign investment.

Labor resources are also a necessary condition for economic growth. In some countries of the region (Poland, Hungary, partly Russia and Ukraine), a system of “dual employment of the population” has developed, which predetermines the development of the cooperative sector and individual labor activity, as well as part-time work, and helps attract additional labor to the economy.

However, in many countries of the region the problem of unemployment remains acute, primarily due to the reduction in the number of employees in state-owned enterprises. To combat unemployment, the practice of bankruptcy of enterprises has been suspended, as a result of which there are always dismissals of workers. This goal is subject to special programs of state assistance to bankrupt enterprises.

All states in the region belong to countries with an average level of socio-economic development.

In the international geographical division of labor (IGDL), countries are represented by the fuel and energy sector (coal, oil, gas), metallurgy, chemical industry (mainly basic chemistry and coal chemistry), certain branches of mechanical engineering (heavy, transport, agricultural and machine tool), timber industry, light (textile, knitwear, footwear, etc.) and food (meat and fish processing, sugar, oil and flour milling, etc. industries.

The agricultural specialization of countries is determined by the cultivation of cereals (wheat, rye, barley, corn), technical (sugar beets, sunflowers, flax, hops) and fodder crops, potatoes, vegetables, etc. Livestock farming is represented mainly by dairy and beef cattle breeding, pig farming, poultry farming. Fishing has long been traditional in the countries along the Baltic Sea coast.

Eastern Europe as a historical and geographical region includes: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, countries formed as a result of the collapse of the former Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia), Albania, Latvia, Lithuania , Estonia.

There is also an opinion that the countries of this region should be classified as either Central or Middle Europe, since it would be more correct to call Eastern Europe Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova and the European part of Russia.

But the name “Eastern Europe” stuck with the countries of this region and is recognized throughout the world.

Geographical position. Natural resources

The countries of Eastern Europe represent a single natural territorial massif stretching from the Baltic to the Black and Adriatic Seas. The region and adjacent countries are based on an ancient Precambrian platform, covered by a cover of sedimentary rocks, as well as an area of ​​Alpine folding.

An important feature of all countries in the region is their transit position between the countries of Western Europe and the CIS.

The countries of Eastern Europe differ from each other in geographical location, configuration, size of territory, and wealth of natural resources.

Natural resource reserves include: coal (Poland, Czech Republic), oil and natural gas (Romania), iron ores (countries of the former Yugoslavia, Romania, Slovakia), bauxite (Hungary), chromite (Albania).

In general, it must be said that the region is experiencing a shortage of resources, and in addition, it is a striking example of the “incompleteness” of a set of minerals. Thus, Poland has large reserves of coal, copper ores, and sulfur, but almost no oil, gas, or iron ore. In Bulgaria, on the contrary, there is no coal, although there are significant reserves of lignite, copper ores, and polymetals.

Population

The region's population is about 130 million people, but the demographic situation, which is difficult throughout Europe, is the most alarming in Eastern Europe. Despite the active demographic policy pursued over several decades, natural population growth is very small (less than 2%) and continues to decline. Bulgaria and Hungary are even experiencing natural population decline. The main reason for this is the disruption of the age-sex structure of the population as a result of the Second World War.

In some countries, natural increase is higher than the regional average (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia), and it is the largest in Albania - 20%.

The largest country in the region is Poland (about 40 million people), the smallest is Estonia (about 1.5 million people).

The population of Eastern Europe has a complex ethnic composition, but one can note the predominance of Slavic peoples. Of the other peoples, the most numerous are Romanians, Albanians, Hungarians, and Lithuanians. Poland, Hungary, and Albania have the most homogeneous national composition. Lithuania.

Eastern Europe has always been an arena of national and ethnic conflicts. After the collapse of the socialist system, the situation became more complicated, especially on the territory of the most multinational country in the region - Yugoslavia, where the conflict escalated into an interethnic war.

The most urbanized country in Eastern Europe is the Czech Republic (3/4 of the population lives in cities). There are quite a lot of urban agglomerations in the region, the largest of which are Upper Silesia (in Poland) and Budapest (in Hungary). But most countries are characterized by historically formed small towns and villages, and the Baltic countries are characterized by hamlets.

Farm

The countries of Eastern Europe today are not characterized by a pronounced socio-economic unity. But in general we can say that _. in the 2nd half of the 20th century. Great changes have occurred in the economies of Eastern European countries. Firstly, industries developed at a faster pace - by the 80s, Europe had become one of the most industrial regions of the world, and secondly, previously very backward regions also began to develop industrially (For example, Slovakia in the former Czechoslovakia, Moldova in Romania, northeast Poland). Such results became possible thanks to the implementation of regional policy.

Energy

Due to a shortage of oil reserves, this region is focused on coal, most of the electricity is generated by thermal power plants (more than 60%), but hydroelectric power plants and nuclear power plants also play an important role. One of the largest nuclear power plants was built in the region - Kozloduy in Bulgaria.

Metallurgy

In the post-war period, the industry actively grew and developed in all countries of the region, with non-ferrous metallurgy relying mainly on its own raw materials, and ferrous metallurgy on imported ones.

Mechanical engineering

The industry is also represented in all countries, but is most developed in the Czech Republic (primarily machine tool manufacturing, production of household appliances and computer equipment); Poland and Romania are distinguished by the production of metal-intensive machines and structures, Hungary, Bulgaria, Latvia - by the electrical industry; In addition, shipbuilding is developed in Poland and Estonia.

Chemical industry

The chemical industry of the region lags far behind that of Western Europe due to the lack of raw materials for the most advanced branches of chemistry - oil. But we can still note the pharmaceuticals of Poland and Hungary, the glass industry of the Czech Republic.

Agriculture of the region

Mainly meets the food needs of the population. Under the influence of scientific and technological revolution, significant changes occurred in the structure of the economy of the countries of Eastern Europe: the agro-industrial complex emerged, and specialization of agricultural production took place. It was most clearly manifested in grain farming and in the production of vegetables, fruits, and grapes.

The economic structure of the region is heterogeneous: in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and the Baltic countries, the share of livestock farming exceeds the share of crop farming; in the rest, the ratio is still the opposite.

Due to the diversity of soil and climatic conditions, several zones of crop production can be distinguished: wheat is grown everywhere, but in the north (Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) rye and potatoes play an important role, in the central part of the subregion vegetable growing and horticulture are cultivated, and the “southern” countries specialize on subtropical crops.

The main crops grown in the region are wheat, corn, vegetables, and fruits.

The main wheat and corn regions of Eastern Europe were formed within the Middle and Lower Danube lowlands and the Danube hilly plain (Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria).

Hungary has achieved the greatest success in grain growing.

Vegetables, fruits, and grapes are cultivated almost everywhere in the subregion, but there are areas where they primarily determine the specialization of agriculture. These countries and regions also have their own specialization in terms of product range. For example, Hungary is famous for its winter varieties of apples, grapes, and onions; Bulgaria - oilseeds; Czech Republic - hops, etc.

Animal husbandry. The northern and central countries of the region specialize in dairy and meat and dairy cattle breeding and pig breeding, while the southern countries specialize in mountain pasture meat and wool animal husbandry.

Transport

In Eastern Europe, which lies at the crossroads of routes that have long connected the eastern and western parts of Eurasia, the transport system has been developing over many centuries. Nowadays, railway transport is the leader in terms of transportation volume, BUT road and sea transport are also intensively developing. The presence of major ports contributes to the development of foreign economic relations, shipbuilding, ship repair, and fishing.

Intraregional differences

The countries of Eastern Europe can be conditionally divided into 3 groups according to the commonality of their EGP, resources, and level of development.

1. Northern group: Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia. These countries are still characterized by a low degree of integration, but there are common tasks in the development of the maritime economy.
2. Central group: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary. The economy of the first two countries is of a clearly industrial nature. The Czech Republic ranks first in the region in terms of industrial output per capita.
3. Southern group: Romania, Bulgaria, countries of the former Yugoslavia, Albania. In the past, these were the most backward countries, and now, despite major changes in their economy, the countries of this group lag behind the countries of the 1st and 2nd groups in most indicators.

In the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, a Eastern European model economic development. The countries of this model include Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

In terms of the level of socio-economic development, these countries belong to the medium industrial and industrial-agrarian countries. The average per capita GDP is 2-3 times less than in Western European countries, and approximately corresponds to the level of the most developed countries of Latin America. In 2012, this figure was the lowest in Bosnia and Herzegovina (8.3 thousand dollars), and the highest in the Czech Republic (27.2 thousand dollars). The GDP structure of Eastern European countries is characterized by the following ratios: industry - 30-40%, agriculture - 5-10%, service sector - 60-65%.

After the Second World War, an administrative-command system was established in all Eastern European countries, gradually transformed into national models of this system, which allowed for a certain development of elements of a market economy. After the fall or transformation of communist regimes in 1989-1991 pp. countries have undergone a transition from an administrative-command system to a market system. The transition depended to a large extent on the initial conditions; the level of economic development, the presence and degree of development of market elements, the mentality of the population, the degree of openness of the economy relative to developed countries. The transformation took place both predominantly evolutionary (Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Croatia) and radical - “shock” (Poland, Czech Republic). The highest results in creating a market economy have been achieved in Central European countries - the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The transition to the market took place more slowly and with difficulty in the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) and especially in the countries of the Balkan region - Bulgaria, Romania, and the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

Despite all the differences, the fundamentals of a market economy have been established in all these countries; Central planning was eliminated, prices for most goods and services were liberalized, internal convertibility of national currencies was introduced, and commodity shortages disappeared. Market reforms in the 1990s were carried out in three main directions; liberalization, financial stabilization and privatization.

The consequence of economic liberalization was the weakening of state control (price controls on goods and services were removed) and the abandonment of the state monopoly in the economy (restrictions on the creation of new private enterprises were lifted), and the abolition of directive economic planning. Economic agents received the right to choose forms of business ownership (private, joint stock, cooperative, etc.) and enter the foreign market. New market institutions have emerged; stock exchanges, commercial banks, antitrust regulation, bankruptcy legislation, etc.

The state retained social functions, including the redistribution of income, which made it possible to regulate the negative consequences of market liberalization. The transition to market relations in all countries of the Eastern European model was accompanied by a decrease in production and a surge in inflation, all other things being equal, higher than the inflation rates of countries with developed market economies. Financial stabilization based on firm budget constraints has proven successful in Central European countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), where monetary and credit restrictions were judiciously combined with the creation of an efficient market infrastructure and stimulation of production, especially in small businesses. The privatization of state-owned enterprises (voucher and paid) faced a number of difficulties, both financial and organizational, and was therefore carried out gradually and with less success than expected. In all countries of the Eastern European model, private ownership of land has been legally restored and is considered a priority.

All countries of the Eastern European model are characterized by the transformational recession of the 1990s pp. - A sharp drop in production in all sectors of the economy, rising unemployment, social differentiation. In most of the countries under consideration, it amounted to 20-25% of GDP and extended over the period 1989-1993. It reached its greatest depth in Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav republics. In 1994-1995 pp. (In Poland - from the end of 1992) economic growth began, the average annual growth rate of GDP in 1995-1997 pp. amounted to 3-5%. The factors driving economic growth were: expansion of the new private sector; influx of foreign investment; the beginning of economic restructuring; financial stabilization; expansion of domestic demand and favorable export opportunities.

In the sphere of foreign economic relations, after the collapse of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA), countries of the Eastern European model reoriented towards the European Union. The further development of most of these countries is associated with accession to the EU. The positive consequences of accession include: the final opening of EU markets for Eastern European goods and, above all, agricultural products, attracting foreign investment to form new industries of international specialization in countries, improving the quality of products. On the negative side: the gradual abolition of protectionist barriers and the subsequent comprehensive structural restructuring of the economies of the countries of the Eastern European model.

The global financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009, which began in the United States, also affected Eastern European countries, whose economies suffered recession or slowdown.

• The World Factbook. - Way of access: cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook