ContextRemarks at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, launching an IMF paper on EU accession; the IMF advises and lends to its 191 members to keep the global economy stable.
Why it mattersPresents new IMF estimates that candidate countries could raise income per person by 30 to 35 percent within a decade, and ties those gains to reforms, the single market and EU funds.
- Growth is weaker and trade tensions higher than at the 2004 enlargement.
- Candidate countries trail current members in income and governance quality.
- Productivity gains do not arrive automatically with membership.
- Candidates should apply EU rules faithfully, without gaps or gold-plating.
- The EU should deepen and integrate its single market.
- Use EU funds well and strengthen governance to speed convergence.
Read the speech summary
1. Why enlargement still matters
Speaking at a Brussels think tank as the IMF launched a paper on the Western Balkans and Moldova, Kristalina Georgieva called enlargement an engine of convergence. The world is harder than in 2004, with growth near three percent, rising trade barriers and demographic and fiscal strain, yet a wider single market should make Europe more resilient. In earlier rounds, joining regions saw income per head climb by more than thirty percent within ten years, and existing members gained too. A new capacity development centre in Rome will support the candidates.
2. What the new paper finds
Candidates could lift income per person by thirty to thirty-five percent in a decade. About two-thirds of the gain is productivity, which has to be earned through investment, innovation and competition, and which also keeps talent at home. Three engines each supply roughly a third: reforms anchored in EU law, access to the single market and effective use of EU money, all resting on strong governance.
3. A shared responsibility
Candidates must apply the rules faithfully, avoiding gaps and needless customisation, while the EU must make its market deeper and more seamless. A larger Europe is stronger if it is also more integrated, and she closed on optimism that Europe should believe in itself.