Central European Free Trade Agreement
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is a trade agreement between Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and the Republic of Macedonia. Former members are Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.
CEFTA was established by Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia on 21 December 1992 in Kraków, Poland. Slovenia joined CEFTA in 1996, Romania in 1997, Bulgaria in 1998, Croatia in 2002 and the Republic of Macedonia in 2006.
Through CEFTA, participating countries hoped to mobilize efforts to integrate Western European institutions and through this, to join European political, economic, security and legal systems, thereby consolidating democracy and free-market economics.
All the participating countries had previously signed association agreements with the EU, so in fact CEFTA serves as a preparation for full European Union membership, and all CEFTA countries have applied to join the EU (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia have joined the EU on May 1, 2004, Bulgaria and Romania are scheduled to do so on January 1, 2007, Croatia does not yet have a date specified but is in the process of accession negotiations). 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.
- Current members:
- Romania (1997)
- Bulgaria (1998)
- Croatia (2002)
- Republic of Macedonia (2006)
- Former members
- Poland (1992–2004; joined the EU)
- Hungary (1992–2004; joined the EU)
- Czech Republic (1992*–2004; joined the EU)
- Slovakia (1992*–2004; joined the EU)
- Slovenia (1996–2004; joined the EU)
Most of the CEFTA members (the exceptions are Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Macedonia) have joined the EU and thus left CEFTA. CEFTA may be preserved (or replaced by similar pact) by extending it to cover the rest of the south-east Europe states, that already have completed a matrix of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs).
