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Against the backdrop of the current political developments in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, such as Ukraine, Poland, and Romania, the question arises as to the role played by economic transformation and the resulting innovation linkages in these countries over the last 20 years. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of economic and institutional dimensions on the development of CEE countries, explicitly distinguishing between European Union (EU) members and non‐members, and thus reflecting the differences in institutions and path dependency. Furthermore, the paper contrasts the performance of CEE countries with that of Western European countries. To achieve these objectives, the impact of factors such as innovation, institutions, and political practices on the economic development of 37 European countries from 2000 until 2020 is followed using fixed effects regression and Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. The results of the analysis show the importance of institutional factors such as low levels of corruption, political freedoms, and intellectual property. The effect of institutional variables was particularly pronounced in the case of non‐EU countries, which indicates the particular importance of the development of stable institutions for achieving higher levels of economic development for this category of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the impact of economic crises on the development of European financial assistance. It demonstrates that crisis episodes that have taken place over the last five decades have significantly altered the design of European Union emergency support. This paper illustrates how solutions adopted in formative moments – including the 1973 oil shock, the Eurozone crisis, and the Covid‐19 pandemic – and their long‐term consequences led to the smorgasbord of instruments of the present financial assistance structure. By applying a historical institutionalist approach, combining insights from studies of critical junctures and gradual change, this contribution explains how economic shocks contributed to change in financial assistance, while also highlighting mechanisms that led to the continuation of specific elements of the assistance structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]