Business cycles convergence between eurozone and the new EU member states

The paper examines the degree of convergence between the business cycles of the new EU member states and eurozone. This convergence is a necessary condition for a troublefree operation of a monetary union. Several analyses have been used to assess the problem -- pure time series correlation, correlation of detrended time series and of lagged series, and above all impulse-response functions correlation and forecast error variance decomposition. Finally, the paper briefly assesses the evolution of business cycles convergence