EU20: NBS Analysts Find Economic Benefits of EU Membership Considerable (2)

Bratislava, April 28 (TASR) - Economic benefits of the EU membership are considerable for Slovakia, as the EU integration yields an additional wealth of €4,000 per an average citizen and about €16,000 per a four-member household over the span of five years, but one-third of this contribution to wealth depends on the efficiency of how the available resources are put to use in the economy, analysts of the Slovak Central Bank (NBS) stated in their study dedicated to the upcoming 20th anniversary of Slovakia's membership in the EU. Slovakia joined the EU on May 1, 2004. "The European Union is a fascinating project, I'm absolutely convinced of that. It was an honour for me to be involved a bit in it. More specifically, I was involved in our joining of the eurozone, which couldn't have happened without our accession to the EU. The euro and EU are not perfect, but what makes them so alluring is that we can all participate in making them better," NBS Governor Peter Kazimir told TASR. Analysts of the NBS focused on three main sources of EU benefits: the drawing of direct payments, the membership's effects on the financing of the public debt and its costs, and the international trade as well as the added value posed by Slovakia's deep integration in the EU's trade relations. The most pronounced effect in the analysts' view is the closer integration of Slovakia in the international trade that brings a longstanding contribution worth 15 percent of GDP. "Up to 36 percent of Slovakia's GDP is exposed to the international trade within the EU," said the NBS. The direct payments from the EU yield on average 1.1 percent of GDP to Slovakia annually, whereas the indirect economic benefits of the EU Funds are estimated at 2.3 percent of GDP annually. "The economic benefit of these transfers has been quite likely much higher in reality. This multiplication effect is capable of boosting growth potential and has hinged and will hinge in the future on the efficiency with which national bodies put the EU financial resources to use," warned the analysts. The EU membership and the adoption of the rules of institutional cooperation have also cut costs for the financing of the Slovak national debt by 0.6 percent of GDP annually. The combination of these three directly measurable short-term and mid-term effects amounts to a total of 4 percent of GDP annually. "If we take into account that labour makes up an approximate 55 percent share in the overall Slovak GDP, we can say that the EU integration contributes to an additional wealth of about €16,000 per an average four-member household over the span of five years, which can translate into, for instance, the purchase of a smaller car," added the NBS analysts. mf