Accession to the EU: A Continuation of or a Departure from Transition Reforms?

Gacs, J. (1999). Accession to the EU: A Continuation of or a Departure from Transition Reforms? IIASA Interim Report. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: IR-99-002

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Abstract

Since the start of the political and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe, much of the transformation was embedded in the process of leaving the Eastern alliance and joining the Western part of Europe. This co-evolution of transition and approaching the West showed certain patterns which, as the accession process accelerates, seem necessary to renounce. EU accession needs transformations different from the earlier ones in a way that they will be less autonomous, demand active government control and reliance on bureaucracies, will be centered more in Europe, face more resistance by particular Western countries or constituencies, and need cooperation among candidate countries that block the accession process. In order to ease these tensions, governments, legislative bodies, and the elites in general in the candidate countries must make themselves and the public understand the specific features of the accession process. In certain fields EU institutions can also smooth this development.

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