The unbearable lightness of membership: Bulgaria and Romania after the 2007 EU

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-393 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlozar A. Andreev
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
First Year ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Social Challenges ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Socioeconomic Transformation ◽  
East Central European ◽  
The Eu

This paper focuses on the current political and socio-economic situation in the two most recent EU member states, Bulgaria and Romania. Overall, the post-accession period in both countries has been comparable to that in the East-Central European members that had joined the Union on 1 May 2004. However, there have been some significant differences in the postaccession path of Bulgaria and Romania, which set them apart from the rest of the EU-10, as well as among themselves. For instance, the problem of corruption has been a particularly salient theme for the political elites of both countries and it led to the paralysis of the cabinet in Romania during the first year of its membership and to the rise of powerful populist alternatives in Bulgaria. What has probably been even more distinguishing in the cases of Bulgaria and Romania is their apparent inability to swiftly deal with the political and social challenges emerging after accession, as well as to adequately respond to the process of Europeanization. The main reason for this has been the unfinished political and socioeconomic transformation of both countries, accompanied by the consolidation of certain ‘reserve domains’, occupied by the former secret services and semi-mafia structures.

scholarly journals The Unbearable Whiteness of the Polish Plumber and the Hungarian Peacock Dance around “Race”

Slavic Review ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 307-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
József Böröcz ◽  
Mahua Sarkar
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
East European ◽  
East Central European ◽  
State Socialist ◽  
The Eu

This contribution interprets the east-central European post-liberal governments’ recent anti-immigrant, anti-refugee and anti-human-rights hysteria in the context of the increasing dependence of the region's societies for livelihood on employment in the western EU, the widespread racialization of east European labor in the western EU, and the refusal of east European political elites and societies at large to consider possible “Left” critiques of the EU. Given those circumstances, and laboring under related anxieties, post-state-socialist political elites and societies have assumed a fundamentalist-racialist posture. They redirect their repressed anger toward incoming refugees, claim an ahistorical, essential kind of Whiteness and contribute to rigidifying European discussions of “race.”

scholarly journals Mesmerized by Enlargement

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 664-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Lightfoot ◽  
Balázs Szent-Iványi ◽  
Kataryna Wolczuk
Keyword(s):  
Development Assistance ◽  
Member States ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
New Member States ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Transition Experience ◽  
East Central European ◽  
The Eu ◽  
The Way

The accession of the East-Central European (ECE) countries carried a promise of enhancing and enriching the EU’s Eastern policy. The new member states had the strongest interests among EU member states to ensure that countries in the East are prosperous, stable, and democratic. Yet, the EU’s Eastern policy has been largely criticised for its ineffectiveness. So why have they not been able to address the shortcomings in the EU’s Eastern policies? The article argues that the ECE countries supported the way the EU’s Eastern policies were conceived and implemented because they saw it as a potent vehicle to promote their own transition experience not only in the region but also within the EU. We argue that the ECE states have experienced three types of challenges when promoting their transition experience. First, uploading to the EU level remained largely at a rhetorical level. Second, there are conceptual and practical difficulties in defining what constitutes transition experience and harnessing it, as well as coordinating its transfer between the ECE states. Finally, while using transition experience as the basis for their development assistance strategies, the ECE countries actually insufficiently conceptualised the “development” aspect in these policies. Being so driven by their own experience, they have not drawn the lessons from enlargement to use in a non-accession context, especially by incorporating the broader lessons with regard to development.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Extent and Nature of ‘Envelope Wages’ in the European Union: A Geographical Analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin C. Williams
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Small Group ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
East Central ◽  
Geographical Analysis ◽  
Central European ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
East Central European

To evaluate the spatialities of the illegal wage practice where employers pay their declared employees both an official declared wage and an undeclared ‘envelope’ wage so as to avoid tax liabilities, a 2007 survey conducted in 27 European Union (EU) member states is reported. The finding is that 5% of employees received envelope wages which amount on average to some two-fifths of their wage packet. Revealing how, although heavily concentrated in a small group of East-Central European nations, this wage practice is nonetheless ubiquitous, the paper concludes by discussing how this practice might be tackled.

East-Central European Literatures Twenty Years After

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 552-581
Author(s):  
Michael Henry Heim ◽  
Robert Elsie ◽  
Sasha Razor ◽  
Kristin Vitalich ◽  
Polina Dimova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Literary Production ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Collective Effort ◽  
English Translations ◽  
East Central European

The goal of this collective effort is to provide an overview of the course of Central European literatures in the twenty years following the fall of the Berlin Wall. The authors have highlighted works they consider representative of their countries’ literary production and placed them in the context of the political and social changes they reflect. Where English translations of the works in question are available, they are listed in a bibliography attached to each article.

scholarly journals Vera Bácskai and her significance in the development of European urban history: a personal account

Urban History ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Peter Clark
Keyword(s):  
Urban History ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Personal Account ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
International Projects ◽  
East Central European ◽  
Exchange Programmes ◽  
The Eu

Abstract This account of Vera Bacskai's contribution to European urban history after 1990 is a personal narrative, written by a friend and collaborator. It argues that her role was multi-dimensional. It was founded on her major publications on Budapest and small towns, shedding a crucial East Central European light on European urbanization. It was underpinned by her participation in various international projects like the EU TEMPUS programme which created strong institutional bonds with Western universities as well as opportunities for Hungarian students through exchange programmes, international workshops and the like. Not least, she was a strong pillar in the construction of the European Association for Urban History. When she joined the committee in 1991, it was still an embryonic body. In 1996, she organized the successful and important Budapest conference. When she retired from EAUH in 2004, its conferences were attracting many hundreds of researchers, from across Europe and beyond.

Introduction: Poland’s Wars of Symbols

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 423-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Lewis ◽  
Magdalena Waligórska
Keyword(s):  
Special Section ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
Religious Symbolism ◽  
Central European Region ◽  
Political Events ◽  
National Symbols ◽  
East Central European

This introduction to the special section on Poland’s wars of symbols analyzes the symbolic contestation that has characterized the country in recent years, studying a range of phenomena including nation, gender, memory, and religious symbolism within the overall framework of political conflict. In doing so, it offers a multidisciplinary view on political fractures that have resonated throughout Europe and the “West.” Overall, the four case studies in this section study ways in which national symbols, topoi, and narratives have been deployed as tools in drawing and redrawing boundaries within society, polarizing and mobilizing the political camps as well as contesting and resisting power. These studies enable us to situate recent political events in a historical perspective, mapping the rise of populism in Poland against the background of legacies specific to the East-Central European region.

scholarly journals The Rise of an Ethnocultural Constitutional Identity in the Jurisprudence of the East Central European Courts

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1703-1720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kriszta Kovács
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
Constitutional Courts ◽  
Migration Flow ◽  
Member States ◽  
East Central ◽  
Central European ◽  
East Central European ◽  
Constitutional Identity ◽  
The Eu

The recent trend in East Central European jurisprudence is that courts apply an ethnocultural understanding of identity, thereby putting European integration in peril. Although the EU is clearly committed to shared values and principles, Article 4(2) of the Treaty on European Union emphasizes that “the Union shall respect the national identities of the Member States.” Due to the recent migration flow in Europe, the Member States are currently attempting to (re)define themselves and offer a legal definition of identity. East Central European Member States, by labelling ethnocultural national identity as constitutional identity, apply Article 4(2) as a means of derogating from some of their obligations under EU law. Despite the vast literature available on national identity and its role in EU law, little attention has been paid to the recently emerging trend of judicial reinvention of identity in East Central Europe. This is what this Article offers. It focuses on the Visegrád Group, which consists of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The Visegrád countries (V4) are united in their views on rejecting migrant relocation quotas in the EU and define their exclusionary constitutional identities accordingly. The main subject of the Article is the relevant case law of the V4 constitutional courts. These courts have the authoritative role in enforcing nation-state policies based upon ethnocultural considerations. The Article provides a comparative-analytical description of the judicial interpretations of constitutional identity in these countries based on which we can better understand the recent East Central European trend of disintegration.

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