The Council of Mutual Economic Assistance - An Example of Failed Economic Integration?

The article deals with the attempt to integrate the national economies of the Eastern Bloc member states within the CMEA in the second half of the 20th century. The efforts failed for various reasons: There were significant differences in development levels among the member states. The mechanisms of a planned economy itself and the missing convertibility of national currencies limited the process just to the stage of bilateralism and pure trade exchange. In this way, multilateralism and factor integration could not be realized. What is more: This contributed to the economic decline of the Eastern bloc countries in the 1970s and 1980s.