The impact of the European Union on party politics in Central and Eastern Europe

The chapters included in this volume have covered much ground, from the place of parties in the accession referendums to the strategies followed by parties in the 2004 EP elections. In this concluding chapter we return to the themes and questions raised in Chapter 1 and discuss those aspects of the parties and party systems on which the EU and processes of European integration, in the light of our theoretical expectations and the country chapters, have exercised or should have exercised, the most decisive impact. We then focus on four areas: changes in the fundamental characteristics of the party systems, the ideological transformation of parties and the role of European party federations in this process, the place of Euroscepticism in electoral competition and the degree to which EU-related attitudes have received effective representation.