ABSTRACT
The lessons of the 2004 Eastern enlargement are sobering. During the Central and East European countries (CEEC) pre-accession period gender equality was adopted as a core value of the Union and gender mainstreaming proclaimed to be a priority. Coordination of complex process became, in the early period, the responsibility of DGIA officials. Inevitably they were subject to intense lobbying, not least by other development goals interested in influencing policy prioritisation in CEEC. Following the approach adopted in a more extensive study the capacity to act, or actorness, is seen as a process involving three facts and the interconnections between them - opportunity, presence and capability. Capability refers to the internal context of European Union (EU) external action, including the availability of policy instruments and understandings about the Union's ability to utilise these instruments in response to opportunity and/or to capitalise on presence. In order to fulfil the EU's criteria for membership, acceding countries must demonstrate 'achievement' of democracy.
