20 Years in the EU

Changing Attitudes and (A)symmetries in 8 Central European States & Perspectives on Ukraine’s EU Accession

The event is open to registered attendees. To register, please send an email to reconstitution@trafo-berlin.de by 3 June 2024.

Join the DGO-Zweigstelle Köln/ Bonn on the eve of the 2024 European Parliament elections, for the online roundtable discussion on the shifting perspectives towards the EU in the eight Central European states that joined the Union in 2004 and in the EU candidate country Ukraine.

The interdisciplinary panel – jointly organised by the Cologne-Bonn branch of the German Association for East European Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde), the Institute of Eastern European and Comparative Law at the Academy for European Human Rights Protection of the University of Cologne, and the re:constitution Team – brings together experts to discuss various aspects of the transformation experienced by the eight Central European states of the first Eastern enlargement of the EU over the past 20 years as well as by Ukraine over the past 10 years since the Euromaidan protests. The debate will revolve around the overarching question of how the attitudes towards the EU changed. Particularly, the spotlight is on phenomena of euroscepticism, including their roots, causes and trajectories, considering especially developments in the political, legal and economic context. Regionally clustered, all nine states will be presented in the panel.

The discussion will focus on key issues such as:

• changing public support as well as government policies with respect to the EU
• relevant factors determining and shaping the (critical) perspectives towards the EU and its values
• converging realities and changing asymmetries across the 2004 accession states, and across the whole Union
• future (Eastern) enlargements of the EU, particularly Ukraine’s path towards EU accession

Are there lessons to be learnt from the experiences in Central Europe?

The panelists will elaborate on the following topics:

• Euroscepticism from a political science point of view and citizens’ attitudes towards the EU in Poland, before and after joining, Simona Guerra (University of Surrey)
• Perspectives from the Baltic states on the processes of European integration and the context of their policies towards the EU, Liutauras Gudžinskas (Vilnius University)
• Perspectives from the Czech Republic and Slovakia on the processes of European integration and eurosceptic tendencies in the field of law, Zuzana Vikarská (Masaryk University)
• Perspectives from Slovenia on the process of European integration and eurosceptic tendencies in the field of law,  Katarina Vatovec (New University)
• Perspectives from Hungary on the process of European integration, before and since Hungary’s gradual autocratisation, considering especially economic issues, Tamás Szemlér (Budapest Business University)
• Ukraine’s path towards EU membership and the mutual perceptions between Ukraine and the EU, before and since Russia’s full-scale invasion, André Härtel (German Institute for International and Security Affairs, SWP)

The panel will be moderated by Angelika Nußberger, director of the Academy for European Human Rights Protection, who is chairing the Advisory Board of the re:constitution programme and heading the Cologne branch of the German Association for East European Studies.