AUTHORS: Vlad POPOVICI, Rodna Consulting Group Irina ZGREABN, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies

摘要

The dramatic political changes that occurred in the Eastern European countries in the second half of the 80s and that culminated in 1989 with the fall of most of the Communist regimes in the region had a tremendous impact on the economic profile of those countries in general and on the energy sector in particular. They have sparked a series of radical and rapid changes and reforms that created a new economic concept - "transition countries". The concept denominates thus the former Communist countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and their uneven mix of economic reform, deregulation, privatization and sometimes re-nationalization. 20 years later, with the historical perspective on our side, we can better assess the results of two decades of "transition" in the energy sector of these countries. This paper will focus on the evolution of the energy sector in the European “transition countries" that are in their majority members of the European Union. We will focus on the Central Eastern Europe and the Baltic States - Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as the new EU members in South-Eastern Europe - Bulgaria and Romania. The objective of the analysis is not only to take a descriptive stance of the last decades of energy reform but to draw some lessons for other developing countries around the world, based on the successes and failures of the energy reforms in these countries.