The new international competition introduced by global finance and information is due to produce revolutionary effects especially in the second line of industrial countries with high trade barriers and a traditionally strong state interference in the economy, such as Italy, Greece, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea or the Eastern European economies returning from their disastrous socialist experience. Not all these economies appear equally prepared to stand the new situation.
As most Eastern European economies have used quite well the last ten years to recover from the socialist disaster, it can be expected that even the countries of the former Soviet area in a second term can take advantage from the successful examples of their western neighbors. At least five of them, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia are expected to enter the European Union within the next five years.
Thus European integration will go on, getting at the same time more intensive and extending to ever more people. With Germany and France leading the competition for deregulation and lower taxes, denizens and consumers in all partner countries can expect significant benefits: prospering industries on bigger and more efficient financial markets, increasing welfare and minor fiscal pressure, a leaner administration, better services and lower prices, more choice and market competition and less state interference in the economy.
This way Europe, introducing now a harder competition even on the political field, is due to take more advantage of growing integration in global economy than other areas. Thanks to the period of preparation and the results already achieved, this could make sure that - after the Japanese rise in the 80s and the US Clinton-boom in the 90s - the first years of the new millennium of world economy could as well become a European decade.
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