Its aim, however, is to capture the underlying growth momentum in the euro area so that departures of € from actual GDP figures should therefore be seen as transitory and could be interpreted as an over- or under-estimation of actual (underlying) growth rates by official GDP data.
But there has been a clear difference in the pace of convergence.2 Countries that have joined the EU, and which are hereafter referred to as the central and eastern European (CEE) economies,3 reached GDP per capita levels of 70% of the EU average.