Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe after EU Membership
Happy ever after?
This book examines how membership of the European Union has affected life in the ten
former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe that are now members of the
European Union.
It attempts to answer some fundamental questions: Was the reward of EU membership worth
the sacrifices made? How have the new member states fared? Has the promise of EU
membership, on which so many expectations were based, been realised? Or have the new
member states traded a Socialist Commonwealth with Moscow pulling the strings for an
over-centralised Brussels bureaucracy that lacks transparency and accountability? How has
a shared communist past influenced the countries’ post-socialist and post-accession
trajectory? How have the populations of post-communist Europe fared? Have some done better
than others? Are these divergences confined to the political, economic or social spheres,
or to more than one? If there have been disappointments, how have the populations reacted
to these?
By taking stock of debates within domestic elites, popular opinion, non-governmental
organisations, civil society, and external actors, this book seeks to answer these crucial
questions.
Table of Contents
Foreword Alexsander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland 1995-2005
Introduction Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan
1. Poland Jane Hardy
2. The Czech Republic Frank Cibulka
3. Slovakia Vladimir Bilcik and Juraj Buzalka
4. Hungary Umut Korkut
5. Slovenia Matevz Tomsic and Lea Prijon
6. Lithuania Mindaugas Jurkynas
7. Latvia Zaneta Ozolina
8. Estonia Viljar Veebel and Ramon Loik
9. Romania Lavinia Stan and Rodica Zaharia
10. Bulgaria Svetlozar Andreev
Conclusion Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan
238 pages, Hardcover