The EU Integration Impact on Visegrad Countries

In our three-part study, we seek to answer the question of what has been successful or unsuccessful in the two-decade EU integration process of the Central European countries and Hungary, and what its main contribution has been. Hungary showed the greatest development dynamics in the Central European region when it joined the EU, but by the end of the initial eight years it was among the last in the standings. Between 2002 and 2010, the very poor performance of the ruling political forces led to the failure to implement the necessary structural reforms that should have helped the adaptation and innovation of the economic system. Between 2010 and 2014, the new political leadership, which received a two-thirds mandate to rule, effectively managed the crisis that had previously developed, and from 2015 the country was on a development path. The orthodox-conservative government definitely built a society based on work instead of benefits, and its preference was strongly focused on the family and its well-being. Public opinion poll data clearly proves that cooperation between the countries of the Central European region is not a zero-sum game, because every cooperating country can benefit, and through cooperation not only the possibility of asserting the interests of the region increases, but also the citizens of each nation become closer to each other, which reduces the possibility of conflicts between nation-states and national minorities and strengthens international peace. Overall, we believe that the existence of the European Union is a great historical achievement, the most important historical task of which is to help nation-states cooperate in preserving international peace. History has also warned us that this is of paramount importance to Central Europe.