"Eastern Europe, EU, Italy: towards Strategic Relationships" Conference organized by Fondazione Edison and by Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (Lincei Academy) Roma, 30-31 March 2006
The Eastern enlargement of the EU was the biggest expansion of the European Community in a single step. Almost 100 million people and eight new countries were added to the EU-15, that with Cyprus and Malta brought the EU to 25 member states. For the EU this is both a big challenge and an equally big opportunity concerning its operation, its relations with other East European countries ( especially Russia) and its role in the world economy. These subjects will be addressed in the first session of the meeting. Economy plays a major role in such circumstances both because of the single countries' capacities in the field and because of their relations with the other EU countries. The role of enterprises, foreign trade and production locations becomes crucial as to the assessment of whether Europe's relationships between East and West can provide both of them new opportunities for a stronger growth and for alternatives to business commercial relationships with other countries, especially those in the Asian area. These subjects will be addressed in the second session of the meeting. The economic trend is increasingly depending on that of science and technology, i.e. on R&D. Even before the transition to the market economy scientific research had reached very high levels in several East European countries, but they were not translated into civil technologies. The human resources' qualification was also remarkable. The problem is now arising of refraining from looking for poorly qualified low-cost resources in those countries, seeking instead quality of expertise to be channeled towards entrepreneurial activities. These subjects will be addressed in the third session of the meeting. The economic trend has always been remarkably dependent on the role of the financial and banking system. While it is stressed that Europe is now a Euro area even outside the twelve Euro countries, and therefore the ECB money policies are of major importance, both the financial policies of the EBRD and of the commercial banks have a significant impact on Eastern Europe. These subjects will be addressed in the fourth session. Italy's position will be dealt with in all four sessions because of the importance of its relations with the Eastern enlargement and beyond.
