Institut für Europäische Politik IEP – english version

Europeanisation of Public Administrations in Central and Eastern Europe in the Process of Transformation and Integration

The object of this research project was the Europeani­sation of the central state admin­is­tration, i.e. the government and the minis­terial bureau­cracy in five countries of Central and Eastern Europe, namely the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. Europeani­sation is dealt with under the specific condi­tions of trans­for­mation and gradual integration into the EU. The project was funded by the Volkswa­gen­Foun­dation. The political and academic relevance of this topic is based on the assumption that trans­for­mation of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the inter­re­lation with the parallel running integration of these countries into the European Union is substan­tially influ­enced by the public admin­is­tra­tions of candidate countries and their individual capac­ities. Central admin­is­tra­tions play a key role in shaping the prepa­ration of their countries for membership.

The research resulted in a publication:

Barbara Lippert/Gaby Umbach: “The Pressure of Europeani­sation. From post-communist state admin­is­tra­tions to normal players in the EU System”

This book deals with EU-driven Europeani­sation of the public admin­is­tra­tions in the above mentioned five countries of Central and Eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004. Since the early nineties, prepa­ration for membership has gradually worked as a factor and incentive to shape and develop struc­tures in insti­tu­tions capable of meeting the oblig­a­tions and needs of a future EU member state. While challenges arise from both legacies of the past and new demands after effective membership, the authors argue that the five new members will most likely develop into normal players in the EU system.

Publi­ca­tions

Project activ­ities

Project Team

Institut für Europäische Politik
Dr. Mathias Jopp; Dr. Barbara Lippert 
Bunde­sallee 23
D‑10717 Berlin
Tel: +49 — 30 — 88 91 34 — 0
Fax: +49 — 30 — 88 91 34 — 99
E‑Mail: barbara.lippert@iep-berlin.de / theider@iep-berlin.de

Jean-Monnet-Lehrstuhl
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wessels; Gaby Umbach, M.A.
Forschungsin­stitut für Politische Wissenschaften und Europäische Fragen
Univer­sität zu Köln
Gottfried-Keller-Str. 6
D‑50931 Köln
Tel: +49 — 221 — 470 41331 oder +49 — 221- 940 2540
Fax: +49 — 221- 940 2542
E‑Mail: wessels@uni-koeln.de / gaby.umbach@uni-koeln.de

Project Partners

Estonia:
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Drechsler (senior expert), Külli Viks (corre­spondent)
Chair of Public Admin­is­tration and Social Policy, University of Tartu

Poland:
Prof. Dr. Nowina Konopka (senior expert); Prof. Dr. Christian Franck (senior expert); Dorota Pyszna (corre­spondent)
College of Europe Natolin, Trans European Policy Studies Associ­ation (TEPSA)

Slovenia:
Prof. Marjan Svetlicic (senior expert); Irena Brinar (corre­spondent)
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana

Czech Republic:
Ing. Petr Pavlik (senior expert), Ing. Jan Hrích/Mgr. Ladislav Dolezal (corre­spondent)
Centre for European Analyses, Institute of Inter­na­tional Relations, Prague

Hungary:
Prof. Dr. András Inotai (senior expert), Krisztina Vida (corre­spondent)
Institute for World Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest