EU MEMBERSHIP IS NOT ENOUGH!

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[05:09 pm] 08 June, 2007

This year’s Nations in Transit launch will focus on the new EU members
from Central Europe, and in particular, the Visegrad four.

The 2007 findings of "Freedom House" in eight of the new EU members
from Central Europe suggest that most have stagnated or worsened in
their governance standards since achieving EU membership in 2004.

Economic progress in the Visegrad Four is increasingly overshadowed
by political turmoil – populism and anti-liberalism are on the rise,
judicial independence is coming under attack or increasing pressure,
and media demonstrate continued partisanship and weak levels of
professionalism which hamper their important role as watchdog in
democratic societies. In the fight against corruption, there is a
notable gap between legislation and practice.

Multi-year trends show democracy scores worsening in all of the
Visegrad four. In Czech Republic and Hungary, political partisanship
has diverted time and attention from the real work of consolidating
reforms.

In 2006, Hungary experienced a crisis in confidence in its leadership
and government institutions. Czech Republic was unable to form a
government for five months. And, Poland and Slovakia’s governments
exhibited overly partisan interest in concentrating power.

Nations in Transit (NIT) is an annual assessment of governance issues
for 29 countries and administrative areas from Central Europe to
Eurasia. The 2007 edition marks its twelfth year of publication and
monitoring comparative levels of democratization. The standardized
set of indicators and time series data provides Trans-Atlantic policy
makers with one of the few cross-comparative governance assessments
available for most new member states and states in the eastern
European Neighborhood.