The Ambivalence of Conditionality: Europeanization and Regionalization in Central and Eastern Europe

The process of European eastward enlargement is increasingly understood as one involving Europeanization, that is to say the spread and inculcation of EU regulatory norms, practice and capacity into the governance systems of the Central and Eastern European candidate countries (CEECs). EU membership conditionality, notably the adoption of the acquis communitaire, is the instrument by which the Commission seeks to ensure the systemic compatibility of the CEECs with the EU. This paper is based on research for an ESRC funded One Europe or Several research project and employs a comparative study of regional policy in CEECs to investigate the impact of Europeanization. The paper takes the notion of Europeanization as a norm-driven and form-driven project from theory and examines its effects on changing institutional structures and elite attitudes. The research suggests that there is no uniform Europeanizing effect in the CEECs, rather EU pressures for adaptation have produced diverse and ambivalent responses and outcomes in CEECs both in terms of regional governance structures and sub-national elite attitudes.