EUROPEANIZATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES: REDEFINING CONCEPTS IN A UNITED EUROPE

‘Europeanization’ is a term widely used yet hard to define, and applying existing definitions to the new EU member states poses challenges. In the context of political parties and party change, identifying direct and indirect impacts of Europeanization is complicated by the strong effects of EU conditionality. A new framework for defining Europeanization may include re-examining how parties in new member states relate to the EU as a political and economic project. The EU may affect not merely organisational structures and programmes of parties, but also the shape of the party system itself. Where accession proved problematic, as in the Slovak case, development of complex EU-related policies may be impeded, with parties less concerned with uploading policy preferences. A better understanding the nature of party politics in Central and Eastern Europe will facilitate research about how they have been Europeanized.