Twenty-three years have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall and still the massive social, political and economic transformations of Central Eastern Europe (CEE) arouse great political and scientific interest, and controversy, worldwide. There has been an increasing focus on the transition by former communist countries to the market economy and to democracy. Nevertheless, while it can be said that the first stage of economic and political transition has been concluded, this is clearly not the case for the analysis of this region: it is commonly accepted that owing to their ‘complex reality’ (Inglot, 2008: 1), these countries will require further in-depth examination.

From 1989 to 2013, Central Eastern countries experienced at least three major events: political and economic transition, their entrance into the European Union and the economic crisis of 2008. While common to almost every Central Eastern country, these circumstances had a different impact on each system and they contributed to shape them in different ways. As a consequence, the Central Eastern Europe of 2013 is considerably different from that of 1989 and 2004. Even more importantly, differences between Central Eastern European countries are becoming more significant as the transition process continues. Ten former communist countries are now member states of the EU but only three of them (Estonia, Slovenia and Slovakia) joined the Eurozone. These countries have at the same time, the highest (Romania and Bulgaria) and the lowest (Slovenia) infant mortality rates in Europe. The most unequal country (Lithuania) and one of the most equal nations in Europe (Hungary) are also located in Central Eastern Europe. Some of them changed from being emigration to being immigration countries, especially as a result of intraregional migration made possible since the EU enlargement of 2004, as in the case of Hungary and the Czech Republic (Kaczmarczyk and Okólski, 2005; Hárs, 2009). At the same time, living conditions and poverty levels range widely in the region, from the Czech Republic – where the incidence of poverty is almost as low as that of Iceland – to Bulgaria, the poorest country in the European Union. Despite their common pathway through communism, transition, EU accession and the current financial and economic crisis, these welfare systems are far from similar.