11
F or e wor d
political conduct of the traditional right. Their success and preponderance in government
posed the problem of troublesome coexistence of the new and old center right in ruling
coalitions. Even though the popularity of antiestablishment parties decreases after some
time in power, this ‘trouble’ affecting Baltic and Slovak politics seems to have the potential
to play a role for some time to come and to defy a tendency toward inclusion of the new-
comers in the establishment.
Finally, there seems in some cases to be a trend among the center right toward a lukewarm
attitude to European integration. It seems that only in the Baltic States and Slovenia is the
right is proudly pro-European; elsewhere, the perspective on European integration as now
embodied in the EU is more differentiated. Even though there exist powerful hindrances
for parties to express their reservations about the pace and form of European integration
openly, some certainly do not hesitate to make use of these reservations for the sake of ideo-
logical rejuvenation or reanimation – the Czech Civic Democratic Party, parties of the Pol-
ish right and, to some extent, the Christian Democratic Movement in Slovakia are illustra-
tive cases. So, the crucial question regarding the future of the center right will have a much
to do with the question of whether center-right parties will adopt ‘Euroskeptic’ stances that
attempt to “shield the national culture from the process of European integration, and pre-
serve cultural coherence in the face of rising immigration” (Vachudová, page 1).
Given the fact that we are probably facing another swing of the pendulum, which may
return many center-right parties across Central and Eastern Europe to power, our analysis
may help the these parties and their successors to address these emerging trends by learn-
ing the lessons of their own shortcomings in the period when they were last in power and
had face equally complex and pressing dilemmas.
IRI Europe Division, Washington D.C. and Regional Office
for Central and Eastern Europe in Bratislava, August 2005.
LITERATURE:
Hanley, Seán (2004) “Getting the Right Right: Redefining the Centre-Right in Post-Com-
munist Europe.”
Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics
20:3, pp. 9-27.
Sitter, Nick (2002) “Cleavages, Party Strategy and Party System Change in Europe, East
and West.”
Perspectives on European Politics and Society
3:3, pp. 425-451.
Vachudová, Anna M (2002) “Integration, Security and Immigration. The European Agen-
das of Eastern Europe’s Right Wing Parties.” Paper presented at the Conference of Europe-
anists, The Council for European Studies, Chicago, 14-16 March 2002.
