East-Central Europe between German Semi-Hegemony and Brexit

Abstract: The paper examines the prospects for the East-Central region in the European Union (EU) in terms of their ability to actively contribute towards the EU’s policy agenda given Germany’s current dominant position and the forthcoming British exit from the EU (Brexit). The East-Central member states have struggled to emerge from the predominantly passive policy-taker position they adopted after EU accession towards a more active role. The paper examines to what extent this ambition is undermined by the trend towards democratic backsliding in the region and the more recent positioning of the Visegrad Group (V4) in opposition to their traditional close ally Germany.

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