Are Democratic Backsliding and Staying Out of the Eurozone Interconnected?

Accession to the European Union for all East Central European countries meant the realization of a long-term dream: returning to Europe, belonging to the West. Membership in the EU implied the integration of post-communist countries to European and transatlantic (NATO) organisations, the hope for economic convergence – for ordinary citizens the rise of living standards and prospects for a better life – and also a guarantee for the stabilization of democratic institutions. However, after the first years of membership, when the 2008 crisis started to affect these countries, a complex phenomenon appeared in the region. The mixture of enlargement fatigue, economic and financial challenges and democratic backsliding that characterized the region in various combinations attracted the attention of analysts to East Central Europe. However, this issue has rarely been tackled as connected to membership (or non-membership) in the Eurozone. In this paper our research question is whether democratic backsliding and staying out of the Eurozone are interconnected. If we expected the stabilization of democratic institutions and democracy in ECE from EU membership, can we expect more stable democracy from belonging to the core of Europe? Two East Central European countries – Hungary and Poland – are in the spotlight in terms of challenged democracies: is it only by chance that these countries seem to still be far from introducing the euro? These questions will be answered in the chapter by looking at longitudinal data on the quality of democracy (V-Dem, Freedom House and Bertelsmann) from the perspective of Eurozone membership. Beyond these two dimensions – democratic backsliding and the Eurozone (or EU) membership – we will reflect on the effects of the 2008 financial crisis.