EU membership may have had strong economic effects on the CEE new member states, however, the EU is still a promise (partially) unfulfilled in terms of political effects. Admittedly, the EU has been more successful in mobilizing economic reforms than in promoting democratic governance. It lacks the tools to promote fair and quality-based political competition, the EU has practically no means of influencing party platforms and the European institutions are often irrelevant, powerless or apathetic towards political pressure, inefficiency of public administration or rampant corruption in CEE countries. EU's incapacity to ensure democratic consolidation in these states may have strong negative consequences for the future of the integration process despite the economic advantages of membership. Poland, one of the vibrant economies in the Eastern Europe, seems to start having second thoughts about the European integration project. Recently, Eurosceptic conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) has won the parliamentary elections in Poland and the country is expected to join ranks with Hungary and Slovakia in opposing migrants’ relocation, and thus contributing to deepen the rift between Eastern and Western EU countries on the migration crisis. Romania, a big supporter of the intergration, despite being less successful economically than Poland, is currently baffled by the uncertainty concerning the direction in which the EU is heading. In this paper, we aim to analyze the effects of EU membership on the Central and Eastern European countries, as perceived by members of the Romanian elite.
