The communist successor parties of eastern and central europe and european integration

Abstract

The rich array of party systems evident in the European Union pre-2004 became even more diverse with the accession of ten new member states, with their own party systems, on 1 May 2004. Among the new players in the ‘Europolity’ we find several communist successor parties. These have undertaken a variety of reform processes dependent on, among other things, the nature of the transition that their societies have undergone. They have therefore taken up different places in their respective national party systems. Subsequently, they have adopted different attitudes towards issues of European integration. The Polish, Czech, Slovak and east German successor parties have encountered different experiences in this regard. While the German PDS is already well integrated into the Europolity, and has developed its own positions on most European policies, the defining issue for the three other parties has been the question of accession and membership. The attitudes of these three parties to the EU's most significant policy areas are nevertheless most often shaped by national policy preferences rather than by any acceptance of broader European goals.