Ten years of the EU membership in the new member states

Policy Study

The “Ten Years” of the New Member States is a good occasion to evaluate their developments in the EU. The NMS have undergone three crises in the last two decades: they had a transformation crisis in the early nineties; later with the EU entry they fell into the post-accession crisis, and the global competition crisis immediately after the EU entry.

These three deep crises has been termed in the paper as the “triple crisis” that has been discussed in eight NMS (NMS-8). The first part deals the heavy social price paid by the NMS populations during the systemic change, and the following three parts analyse the ensuing decline in democracy, good governance and competitiveness. Finally, in the Conclusions the “re-entry” of the NMS to the EU has been raised, pointing out that there have also been some signs of creative crisis that may bring “a better future”.

Attila Ágh is a Full Professor in the Institute of Political Science, Budapest Corvinus University. His current research focuses on the Europeanisation and Democratisation of the East-Central European countries. He has recently published two edited volumes about the impact of globalisation on the ECE countries and the Progress Report on the twenty years of New Member States. His research interests include comparative politics and public administration in general, and in Central and Eastern Europe in particular.