Real Convergence In The European Union: “New” Versus “Old” Member States

The recent waves of enlargement of the European Union have created not only opportunities, but also challenges, emphasizing the complexity of the integration process and the difficulty to assure cohesion between Members. The aim of this paper is to examine real convergence in an enlarged European Union and to conduct a comparative analysis between the New (13) and the Old Members (15). In this respect, we have studied absolute and conditional convergence between 1995 and 2019, taking into consideration the level of GDP per capita. The methodological tools of the research were β-convergence based on cross-sectional and panel regressions and σ-convergence