Local reforms by political conditionality: trials and erros in Central and Eastern Europe

This article gives an overview of the local reforms undertaken between 1998 and 2011 in seven CEE countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia). The interest lies especially in determining national actions for increasing transparency of local self-government and decentralisation. Reading the European monitoring documents prior and after accession (where available), and national strategies of reform, the author argues that for the CEE region reforms undertaken during accession to the European Union had not been entirely internalized, and that in the absence of any conditionality costs, these countries experienced a reform regress. As results are presented, the prediction proves invalid for some part of the region and the authors advocate for the need of cross-referencing data and advance research.