The Post Accession Agenda of CEE New Member States

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The Post Accession Agenda of CEE New Member
States
What is the Unfinished Business ?
2
Context

• 20 years after the start of the transition
• 10 years after the beginning of the EU accession
  negotiations
• Five years (two and a half for Bulgaria and
  Romania) since EU accession
• World financial and economic crisis

3
The Unfinished Business of the Transition Agenda

• Uncompleted structural reforms in
• the policy fields of national competence
• in all CEE NMS
• Education
• Health system
• Social protection systems and social inclusion,
  pensions.

4
Reasons

• Lack of acquis communitaire in those policy areas
• Depend on the capacity and political will of
  national governments
• Party systems fragmentation and fragile
  coalition governments some of which in minority
  position with a short political lifetime
• Temptation to employ populism and nationalism

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Impact

• Deepen the marginalization of certain groups of
  society and increase the already huge regional
  development discrepancies
• Diminish the already low citizens trust in the
  political establishments and the institutions of
  representative democracy.
• Cause already fragile political systems to become
  increasingly vulnerable.

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Economic and Financial Crisis Challenges

• Risk the catching-up tendency to be reversed in
  most of the countries
• vulnerability of the public finances
• challenged sustainability of the economic
  development.

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The Unfinished Business of the Accession Agenda

• Unclear prospects for the Euro adoption in eight
  of the NMS of CEE
• Accession to the Schengen area Bulgaria and
  Romania (2011)
• JHA Reform, Curbing Corruption Bulgaria and
  Romania
• Fighting Organized Crime and EU Funds Absorption
  - Bulgaria
• Capacity for constructive co-authorship of common
  European policies

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EU Membership Leverage

• Very limited regarding its impact on
• the unfinished business in the
• post accession period
• EU safeguards against extremism in politics
  through exercising peer pressure and implementing
  European policies.
• Insignificant and ineffective in impact on the
  uncompleted spheres of reform (e.g. health,
  education, social protection and pensions).

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EU Membership Leverage

• Cooperation and verification mechanism (CVM) in
  reforming the judiciary, fighting organized crime
  and corruption Bulgaria, Romania
• Schengen Area accession requirement Bulgaria,
  Romania
• Euro area accession is the only potentially
  effective leverage the requirement provide for
  prudent macro economic policies, contributing to
  the sustainability of public finances.

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The Post Accession Agenda

• Ensuring stable political systems with mature
  political parties.
• Accomplishing long-term structural reforms in the
  policy spheres of citizens concern.
• Assuring functioning institutions of
  representative democracy, trusted by the
  citizens.
• Creating sustainable long-term economic
  development and safeguarding public finances.

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The Post Accession Agenda

• Euro area accession for eight of the CEE NMS
• Accomplish the transition from a EU membership of
  full rights to a membership of full value
• effective civic participation in the European
  policies formulation and implementation
• effective programming of the financial period
  2013-2020.
• Schengen area accession, JHA reform, fight
  against corruption and organized crime - Bulgaria
  and Romania.

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The Unfinished Business of the Fifth
Enlargement Countries www.eupi.eu Assya
Kavrakova Program Director European Policies and
Civic Participation ProgramOpen Society
Institute - Sofia E-mail akavrakova_at_osi.bg Web
site www.osi.bg