Growth in European Union eastern countries diminishes. The economies of the eight eastern European countries that joined the European Union between 2004 and 2013 (Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) have lost the competitiveness acquired after the fall of the communist regimes, according to a report by the McKinsey Cabinet. Since 2008, at the beginning of the economic crisis, growth in these countries fell to 2% a year, whereas between 2000 and 2008, this rate stood at between 4 and 5%. Over this period, per capita income in eastern European countries grew four times more quickly than in western Europe. Since then, the region has suffered from a 75% fall in foreign investment and the growth model based on consumption has weakened (80% of GDP as opposed to just 50% in China). (IL/trans.fl)