Clinical Symptoms and Examination

Twenty Years of EU Enlargement to Central and Eastern Europe

“…However, Eastern enlargement has also been characterized as an 'unconventional marriage' between East and West, that started with mutual trust but has gone through mutual disappointments over the past two decades with different expectations on both sides. 46 With remaining economic inequalities crossborder between old and new Member States, with a sharp asymmetry between CEECs' political representation at EU level, and their citizens' poor representation in technocratic, administrative and economic elites, 47 we may not be surprised that Eastern Europe is not on the 'mental map' of the other half of Europe. 48 Looking at Eastern enlargement in this way, the past twenty years raise not only fundamental questions about the directions, speed, methodologies, and capacities of EU integration, but also on the 'political and economic peripheralization' and the salience of the East-West divide in the EU.…”