Overview: Central and Eastern Europe

More than a decade after the Berlin Wall fell, democracy and the rule of law have become firmly entrenched throughout the region—developments that have helped spur economic transformations reaching deep within each country. Since the late 1990s, all eight countries in the OSI website’s Central and Eastern Europe region have focused primarily on one overarching milestone: their accession into the European Union (EU) in May 2004. The lure of EU membership, with its highly anticipated economic and social benefits, has driven political decision making in each country—with profound and positive consequences for open society. Among other things, the accession process has contributed to the advancement of human rights, liberalized economic policies, increased government accountability, and helped to invigorate civil society.

As Central and Eastern European countries have worked to bring their political, economic, and social policies and practices in line with EU standards, OSI and its affiliated Soros foundations have promoted these reforms by offering policy advice, training civil servants, and funding the participation of civic groups in national and local public affairs. In several countries, for example, local Soros foundations supported voter turnout campaigns underlining the importance of elections to continuing reform and democratization.

Joining the European Union is not a panacea for open society deficits. Substantial attention must continue to be paid in accession countries as well as member states to fundamental issues like minority rights, corruption, and the free movement of people. Soros foundations are committed to making sure that EU criteria, adopted during the accession process, are actually put into practice once membership is achieved. OSI’s EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program seeks to ensure that that new and old member states live by the same criteria.

OSI will continue to support the region’s Soros foundations, though at a reduced level. Each foundation is developing a different strategy for addressing the needs of its country while broadening its funding base.