ABSTRACT
Competitiveness in the Central and Eastern European countries is an important policy issue. The plans and strategies prepared by the Central and Eastern European (CEE) governments for implementing European Union Cohesion policy in 2004–2006 and 2007–2013 demonstrated that there are major deficits in relation to public investment in human and physical capital, factors which can improve conditions for sustained productivity growth and employment creation. The legal regulation has to support foreign direct investment and assist the growth of enterprises. Contradiction between laws makes operationalization more difficult for users and results in considerable legal costs that affect competitiveness. There are many indices and lists which allow states to be compared from the viewpoint of competitiveness. The worst situations for competitiveness are in Bulgaria and Romania, while the most competitive states in the CEE region are Estonia and the Czech Republic.
