Introduction

This chapter, primarily from the perspective of new institutionalism, analyses the impact of European Union membership on the institutional and public law framework for policy making in the Czech Republic. In particular, it covers the shift from passive ‘transplantation’ of EU norms during the association and accession negotiations to active formulation of EU policies after the accession and the development of new Czech structures responsible for the EU agenda, including institutional competition within the Czech administration. It also explains the limits of the Europeanisation of policy making in the Czech Republic, for instance due to the lack of stability of Czech administrative structures, the dominance of the domestic political context and the limited expertise and/or self-confidence of Czech policy makers.

This chapter first maps the transformation of policy making in the Czech Republic during the pre-accession period. Afterwards, the analysis shifts to the institutional aspects of policy making after the accession to the EU and the last segment of the text focuses on three short case studies (the 2003-04 European Convention, 2009 Czech Presidency and 2010-13 Eurozone crisis) to demonstrate selected aspects of the Europeanisation of Czech policy making in practice. The chapter covers the situation in the Czech Republic until the end of 2013. Therefore, the analysis does not deal with the activities of the new government led by the social democratic leader Bohuslav Sobotka inaugurated in January 2014.

Asymmetric Europeanisation before EU accession

The Czech accession process to the EU was relatively straightforward. The Czech Republic applied for EU membership in 1996, the accession negotiations started in 1998 and were finalised at the Copenhagen summit in December 2002. After ratification of the accession treaty signed in Athens in 2003, the Czech state joined the European Union on 1 May 2004.

Due to the character of the accession negotiations (screening of Czech legislation, regular evaluation by the European Commission) the Europeanisation of Czech policy making commenced several years before the EU accession. During this period, policy making in the Czech Republic was framed in a specific way due to the asymmetrical character of Czech-EU relations. The accession process concentrated on norm transfer from the EU to the Czech Republic and the capacity of Czech institutions to implement and apply the EU acquis.