Central and Eastern Europe in the EU: Challenges and Perspectives Under Crisis Conditions

235 Pages·2018·2.495 MB·English

by  Christian Schweiger, Anna Visvizi

Central and Eastern Europe in the EU
Since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, the EU has been in almost
permanent crisis mode. It is witnessing new dimensions of internal differentia-
tion among its member states, and the migration crisis has shown that the
Central and Eastern European countries (CEEs) in particular are slowly but
certainly transforming themselves from predominantly passive policy-takers
towards becoming more active players in the process of shaping the EU’s
governance agenda.
This edited volume offers the firstcomprehensive and critical insight intohow
the CEEs position themselves in the EU’s changing internal and external envir-
onment, their stance towards the European integration process under current
crisis conditions, and what political and economic strategies they prioritize.
Christian Schweiger is Visiting Professor and Chair for Comparative Eur-
opean Governance Systems at Chemnitz University of Technology, Germany.
Anna Visvizi is Head of Research at the Institute of East-Central Europe
(IESW) and Associate Professor at Deree College – The American College of
Greece.
Routledge Studies in the European Economy
Forafulllistoftitlesinthisseries,pleasevisitwww.routledge.com/series/SE0431
40 Labour and Social Transformation in Central and Eastern Europe
Europeanization and Beyond
Edited by Violaine Delteil and Vassil Kirov
41. The Contemporary Crisis of the European Union
Prospects for the future
Ivan T. Berend
42. Ageing, Lifestyles and Economic Crises
The New People of the Mediterranean
Edited by Thierry Blöss
In Collaboration with Isabelle Blöss-Widmer, Elena Ambrosetti, Michèle Pagès and
Sébastien Oliveau
43. When Ideas Fail
Economic Thought, the Failure of Transition and the Rise of Institutional
Instability in Post-Soviet Russia
Joachim Zweynert
44. Economic Crisis and Structural Reforms in Southern Europe
Policy Lessons
Edited by Paulo Manasse and Dimitris Katsikas
45. Crisis in the European Monetary Union
A Core-Periphery Perspective
Giuseppe Celi, Andrea Ginzberg, Dario Guarascio and Annamaria Simonazzi
46. Rethinking Economic and Monetary Union in Europe
A Post-Keynesian Alternative
Philip B. Whyman
47. Central and Eastern Europe in the EU
Challenges and Perspectives Under Crisis Conditions
Edited by Christian Schweiger and Anna Visvizi
Central and Eastern Europe
in the EU
Challenges and Perspectives Under Crisis
Conditions
Edited by
Christian Schweiger and Anna Visvizi
Firstpublished2018
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN
andbyRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
©2018selectionandeditorialmatter,ChristianSchweigerandAnnaVisvizi;
individualchapters,thecontributors
TherightofChristianSchweigerandAnnaVisvizitobeidentifiedasthe
authorsoftheeditorialmaterial,andoftheauthorsfortheirindividual
chapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordancewithsections77and78ofthe
Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor
utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now
knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting
fromthepublishers.
Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithout
intenttoinfringe.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Names:Schweiger,Christian,1972-author.|Visvizi,Anna,1976-editor.
Title:CentralandEasternEuropeintheEU:challengesandperspectives
undercrisisconditions/ChristianSchweigerandAnnaVisvizi.
Description:1Edition.|NewYork:Routledge,2018.|Series:Routledge
studiesintheEuropeaneconomy;47
Identifiers:LCCN2017056520|ISBN9781138714021(hardback)|
ISBN9781351863704(pdf)|ISBN9781351863698(epub)|
ISBN9781351863681(mobi)
Subjects:LCSH:EuropeanUnion.|Europe--Economicintegration.|
Europe,Eastern--Economicintegration.|Europe,Central--Economic
integration.
Classification:LCCHC241.S36532018|DDC337.1/420943--dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2017056520
ISBN:978-1-138-71402-1(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-23098-6(ebk)
TypesetinBembo
byTaylor&FrancisBooks
To the people of Central and Eastern Europe who made
the peaceful transition to democracy in 1989/90 possible.
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of illustrations ix
List of contributors xi
Acknowledgements xvi
1 Introduction: the EU under crisis conditions: Central and Eastern
European perspectives 1
CHRISTIANSCHWEIGERANDANNAVISVIZI
PART I
Central and Eastern Europe in the EU’s changing internal
and external dimension 9
2 Positioning the CEE region in the EU’s core-periphery divide 11
CHRISTIANSCHWEIGER
3 A rift in European integration? Neglected shadows of the Central
and Eastern European transformation 25
BEÁTAFARKASANDANDRÁSMÁTÉ-TÓTH
4 Perpetual crises, the return of geopolitics and the emergence of a
new normalcy in Central Europe 44
ANNAVISVIZI
5 Central European relations in turbulent times 57
BEÁTAFARKAS
PART II
National perspectives: between good citizenship and
backsliding 73
6 European Union at the crossroads: which route will poland take? 75
MACIEJDUSZCZYK
viii Contents
7 Hungary in the Visegrád group: Introducing a three-level game
approach 90
KRISZTINAARATÓANDBOGLÁRKAKOLLER
8 Slovakia: a farewell to a passive policy-taker role? 106
ZSOLTGÁLANDDARINAMALOVÁ
9 The politics of internal and external migration in the enlarged EU:
Bulgaria and Romania from policy-takers to policy-makers? 120
NICOLELINDSTROMANDMIHNEACA˘TUŢI
10 The Baltic States in the EU: committed europhiles or
geopolitical hostages? 135
LIUTAURASGUDŽINSKASANDTOMASBEKIŠAS
11 The new kid on the block: Croatia’s EU membership in the
shadow of the eurozone crisis 149
WILLBARTLETT
PART III
The Visegrád cooperation – challenges for a
semi-institutionalised regional group 163
12 Internal and external aspects of the Visegrád 4 cooperation 165
TOMÁŠSTRÁŽAY
13 The dual crisis and ‘regionalization’ in the Visegrád states: the
identity politics of East-Central Europe in the new world order 177
ATTILAÁGH
14 Cooperation or integration? The new defence initiatives in the
Visegrád group 190
ANNAMOLNÁRANDZOLTÁNSZENES
15 Conclusion: perspectivesandnewdirectionsforcentralandEastern
Europe in the EU 208
CHRISTIANSCHWEIGERANDANNAVISVIZI
Index 213
Illustrations
Figures
3.1 Correlation between GDP per capita (in PPS, EU-28=100) and
WGI ranking in the CEE countries 36
4.1 Competitiveness in the region 50
5.1 Germany’s exports and imports with selected trading partners in
2016 (EUR million) 59
5.2 The share of V4 in Germany’s exports and imports, 2008–2016 60
5.3 Manufacturing exports value added supplied by manufacturing
industries in the Central European manufacturing core, 2011 62
5.4 Investment attractiveness: ranking of the V4 countries in Central
and Eastern Europe 64
5.5 Students’ average scholastic performance in V4 countries based
on the 2015 PISA report 65
10.1 Image of the EU: share of population whose opinion of the EU
is either fairly or very positive 137
10.2 Party positions on the EU in the Baltic States in 2014 138
11.1 GDP growth rates in Croatia and EU-28 153
11.2 General government deficits, Croatia and EU-28 (% of GDP) 154
11.3 Central government budget (million kuna) 157
Tables
3.1 Economic performance of the CEE countries, in percentages 31
3.2 Overall social climate index 34
4.1 Poland: macro-economic indicators 2004–2016 48
4.2 Hungary: macro-economic indicators 2004–2016 48
4.3 The Czech Republic: macro-economic indicators 2004–2016 49
4.4 The Slovak Republic: macro-economic indicators 2004–2016 50
4.5 Competitiveness and business friendliness in the region 51
4.6 Energy dependency: crude oil and natural gas dependency in
2015, as a percentage of total imports 51
4.7 Freedom in the world scores 2017 52