ABSTRACT

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 differentiation 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 first comprehensive and critical insight into how the CEEs position themselves in the EU’s changing internal and external environment, their stance towards the European integration process under current crisis conditions, and what political and economic strategies they prioritize.

chapter 1|8 pages

Introduction

The EU under crisis conditions: Central and Eastern European perspectives

part I|63 pages

Central and Eastern Europe in the EU’s changing internal and external dimension

part II|91 pages

National perspectives: between good citizenship and backsliding

chapter 6|17 pages

European Union at the crossroads

Which route will Poland take?

chapter 7|16 pages

Hungary in the Visegrád group

Introducing a three-level game approach

chapter 8|14 pages

Slovakia

Farewell to a passive policy-taker role?

chapter 9|15 pages

The politics of internal and external migration in the enlarged EU

Bulgaria and Romania from policy-takers to policy-makers?

chapter 10|14 pages

The Baltic states in the EU

Committed europhiles or geopolitical hostages?

chapter 11|14 pages

The new kid on the block

Croatia’s EU membership in the shadow of the eurozone crisis

part III|50 pages

The Visegrád cooperation – challenges for a semi-institutionalised regional group

chapter 13|13 pages

The dual crisis and ‘regionalization’ in the Visegrád states

The identity politics of East-Central Europe in the new world order

chapter 14|18 pages

Cooperation or integration?

The new defence initiatives in the Visegrád group

chapter 15|5 pages

Conclusion

Perspectives and new directions for Central and Eastern Europe in the EU