Jacques Rupnik on the paradoxical political evolution of eastern Europe

In an interview conducted by Yves Steiner, historian Jacques Rupnik analyses the political evolution of the eastern European countries that joined the EU in 2004. "There is a paradox. The transition towards democracy and the market economy is a veritable success. The population's quality of life rose before and after joining the EU. But at the same time, a rejection of the elites is establishing itself. It's a rejection of those who orchestrated the entry into the EU, from Poland to Hungary, via the former Czechoslovakia. ... This stays inline with a new political situation, characterised by polarisation and a push toward populism. These populist currents criticise the consensus that animated all the governments, on the right and the left, since 1989: adhesion to a market economy, development of the rule of law and the adhesion to NATO and the EU. By attacking this, we are setting upon the post-communist legacy, not the communist one".

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