Driver, conductor or fellow passenger? Eu membership and party politics in Central and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Although accession to the European Union created some expectations of change, an examination of party politics in the new member states of Central and Eastern Europe between 2004 and 2008 indicates that EU membership had only a limited impact on party organization and programmes across the region. Nonetheless, in the realm of party politics the EU acted as a constraint, a source of spill-over and a point of reference. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.