ABSTRACT
South-Eastern Europe comprises the countries of the Balkan peninsula that were historically part of the Ottoman Empire and whose populations adhere predominantly to the Orthodox and Moslem religions. The following countries may be considered as constituting South-Eastern Europe: Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro (the two remaining components of the former Yugoslavia), Bosnia-Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Albania. Internal and external conflicts have seriously hampered the transition process in many of the countries of the former Yugoslavia and have also influenced developments in neighbouring countries. Overall, the outcomes of transformation have been slow to materialize so that the countries of South-Eastern Europe are generally regarded as slow achievers in effecting the transformation of their economies from a command to a market system.
