The Durability of EU Civil Service Policy in Central and Eastern Europe after Accession

Abstract

This article examines the post-accession durability of EU civil service policy in Central and Eastern Europe (CEECs). Civil service professionalization was a condition for EU membership but the European Commission has no particular sanctions available if CEECs reverse pre-accession reforms after gaining membership. Comparing eight CEECs that joined the EU in 2004, the article finds that post-accession civil service developments are characterized by great diversity. The three Baltic States continued civil service reforms, while Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovenia are classified as cases of post-accession reform reversal. The post-accession pathway of Hungary is identified as a case of reform reorientation. The diversity in post-accession pathways was almost exclusively the result of domestic political constellations, in particular, patterns of government alternation after accession. There were hardly any factors that could have locked in the level of professionalization that had been reached at the time of accession.