Central and Eastern Europe Twenty Years after EU Enlargement

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

On 1 May 2024, the European Union (EU) will celebrate the 20th anniversary of its first enlargement to include post-communist states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Some of the statements made on the occasion reflect a particular understanding of the significance of eastern enlargement, namely in terms of the re-unification of the European continent. For example, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy claimed that “finally Europe had become ‘Europe’ again”. However, two decades after the first eastern enlargement that was strongly associated with ending the division of Europe, attitudes towards further enlargement are distinctly negative, both among EU citizens and member state governments. This panel first turns to the question of the EU’s impact on democracy in member states from the CEE and whether it has helped to overcome the division of the continent. The EU’s ability to trigger liberal democratic reforms in candidate countries should not be overestimated, especially when it faces illiberal and authoritarian governments. In addition, EU institutions are highly constrained in sanctioning democratic ‘backsliding’ in member states after they have completed their accession to the EU. Nonetheless, in the recent deacde there are increasingly more and more examples of the deterioration of democracy in new member states and, albeit more limited, the EU’s inability to influence domestic political changes in both most recent new EU mebers and EU candidate countries. The panel will also address the question how the EU’s attitude to enlargement has changed since 2004. There are clear signs of an ‘enlargement fatigue’ as member state governments have become generally more reluctant to accept additional candidate countries. We will explore whether these negative attitudes stem from the impact that eastern enlargement had on the EU in two key areas: the EU’s decision-making capacity and the rule of law inside the enlarged EU with regard to the CEE member states’ compliance with EU law.

Sub Unit

• Partner Associations / Central European Political Science Association

Individual Presentations

• “From Adaptation to Emancipation”: The Twenty Years of EU Membership in Hungary - Boglárka Koller, Ludovika University of Public Service

• Slovenia 20 Years after EU Accession: Still Good Pupil or Troubled Teenager? - Miro Hacek, University of Ljubljana; Simona Kukovic, School of Advanced Social Studies

• Mass Polarization, Crumbling Institutional Trust and Democracy Eroding in Poland - Agnieszka Turska-Kawa, University of Silesia in Katowice; Christian Welzel, Leuphana University

• 20 Years of Czechia in the EU: From Enthusiasm via Euroscepticism to Pragmatism - Petr Just, Metropolitan University Prague

Chair

• Simona Kukovic School of Advanced Social Studies