Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 7, No 2 (2011)

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the economic growth evolution in the European Union
new member states, being part of a more comprehensive research regarding the euro adoption
challenges, taking as benchmark Slovakia and Slovenia, countries that already entered the euro zone.
The research underlines the fact that, starting with the mid-September 2008, the macroeconomic
landscape of the analyzed countries changed radically, registering a decrease of the economic
activities determined both by a diminished export activity and by a reduced internal demand, with
effects on the firms’ profitability and on the deterioration of the labour market situation. The results
show that the severity of the financial global crisis effects was different in the analyzed countries, as a
response to various “paths” of economic development, with less or more important vulnerabilities,
with differences in the extent to which the economies are based on external demand and on credit
activity induced from abroad. The countries that are suffering the deepest recessions are those that
registered not only a decline of exports, but also a collapse of the internal demand, as a result of
stopping the credit activities that were a support for the internal demand.