Corruption and Compliance in the EU's Post‐Communist Members and Candidates

Abstract

Some 20 years after the end of communism in central and eastern Europe, the European Union (EU) is still working through the opportunities and challenges of enlarging eastwards. For the EU and its new members alike, enlargement has been a success: ten formerly communist states have joined and experienced the economic and geopolitical benefits of membership after the relative rigours of the EU’s pre-accession process. The EU’s requirements for membership forced candidates to reform the state and the economy, reducing the role of the state in the economy and improving the transparency and efficiency of state institutions. In many areas, however, strict enforcement was limited to the adoption – and not the implementation – of the acquis and the reform of the public administration leaves much room for improvement. For the older Member States, enlargement has also brought economic and geopolitical benefits, tempered with challenges ranging from popular concerns about welcoming workers from the new members to concerns about including so many new members in the EU’s institutions. In 2008 the issue of corruption in the EU’s newest members – Bulgaria and Romania – took centre stage as it touched on several sensitive issues within the EU. As Europe followed the United States into economic crisis, what hit headlines in 2008 was blatant corruption in the disbursement of EU