In his reflections on the 1989 revolution in Eastern Europe, Ralf Dahrendorf suggested that it might take a mere six month to introduce democratic political institutions and six years to fundamentally transform a command economy into a market economy; but it will take more like 60 years to forge a pluralistic society. Tolerance and perceptions of pluralism appear to be fruitful indicators of democratisation and social pluralism. Several studies support the thesis that there are distinct, though far from clear-cut, divisions between countries that have experienced decades of communist rule and those that have not. With an emphasis on anti-discrimination policies in the European Union, on the one hand, and attitudes towards minority groups in a selection of post-communist states, on the other, this paper will explore the recent backlash against Europeanisation, a trend shared by many countries in the region. Illustrated by survey data, we will present an overview of popular attitudes towards sexual minorities specifically and levels of social tolerance more generally. We will also examine the heavy emphasis on ‘family values’, which has become more prevalent on the political agenda in several of countries the region. The paper starts with a description and examples of the recent backlash against Europeanisation. Second, we will sketch out EU’s democracy criteria for membership in broad terms, before taking up the issue of anti-discrimination specifically. The following section takes up the concept of tolerance and its application to the question of attitudes towards homosexuality and gay rights. Evidently, democracy is a learning process and the length of experience with democracy is a vital explanation for the degree of political tolerance. The paper will thus, in a final discussion, make an attempt to determine the success of the EU approach and asks to what extent Europeanisation has ‘trickled down’ to society at large, or if it in important respects remains a ‘Potemkin village’.
