Here's the report from the Financial Times (the full story may not be available to non-subscribers).
...to the surprise of politicians and voters alike, accession has been accompanied by a surge in economic growth. The ex-communist EU members saw gross domestic product rise 5 per cent last year, up from 3.7 per cent in 2004. The World Bank forecasts an increase of 4.5 per cent in 2005 - more than twice the growth rate of the "old" EU.
Exports rose by about 20 per cent, led by particularly strong increases from Poland and the Czech Republic. In agriculture, where producers feared they might be swamped by west European imports, exports to the west soared.
Towards the end of 2004, farmers also saw the first tranche of EU agricultural aid coming into their pockets - a minimum of €500 ($653) for the smallest producers. The European Commission estimates farmers' incomes rose by 50 per cent in new member states last year, with a 108 per cent rise in the Czech Republic and 73 per cent in Poland - by far the largest increases since the collapse of Communism.
Enlargement stimulated a wave of inward foreign investment, notably of portfolio capital. Stock markets across the region soared, headed by Slovak equities, which jumped 84 per cent.
The less good news:
For most central Europeans the key issue remains the economy and the long drive to raise living standards to western European levels. The region's economies have serious weaknesses. Unemployment averages 14 per cent. Countries remain divided between the beneficiaries of EU integration - led by young, well-educated workers - and those who have lost out, including the old, the sick and the jobless.
Governments are struggling to control welfare spending and budget deficits, notably in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland. Hungary last year suffered a foreign exchange crisis when currency traders took fright at mounting fiscal and current account deficits. The upheaval showed the region is still vulnerable to shocks.
There's much, much more in the article.