This paper aims to examine issues surrounding the competitiveness of the Visegrad countries that have recently joined the European Union, and in particular, to analyse a set of structural indicators that help assess the degree to which they are meeting the terms of the Lisbon agreement.
The approach taken is to examine and analyse published economic and associated performance data.
The Visegrad countries lag behind in many of the structural indicators and thus have progress to make in raising their competitiveness to general European levels. There are also some surprising areas where these counties are in advance of general European levels – such as in technical education.
The paper suggests areas where governments might intervene to improve longer‐term competitiveness.
The paper performs a useful analysis of available data to highlight key policy areas and issues.
