Since the early 1990’s, the prospect of eventual admission to the EU led to important economic progress in the 10 new EU member states. The author outlines this progress as well as the positive effects that membership itself will have on the mentioned economies. However, there are challenges involved in these countries catching up with the EU’s leaders. According to the author, good domestic policies as well as strong and well-targeted EU policies are necessary for the gap to be closed. Of the ten new EU member states, eight have undergone a transformation whose speed and scope has been unprecedented. Wherever one looks in the post-communist accession countries –at money, markets, ownership structures, banking sectors, foreign trade, health care, environmental protection, and education– one sees institutions that have been reconstructed from the ground up...