Authors

Discussion

This paper presents ongoing research on how European integration reshaped Czech political thinking during the pre-accession period from 1994 to 2004. Although the years after 1989 are typically characterized as a period of democratic change and economic marketization in Central Europe, my preliminary findings suggest that a comparable process of Europeanization had already begun before the Czech Republic's formal accession to the EU in 2004. The analysis focuses on the Czech parliament and media as key arenas where the meaning of European integration was created, negotiated, and contested.

I proceed from the working hypothesis that Europeanization in the Czech Republic was a transformation of Czech political thinking, not only a technocratic process. Through conceptual analysis, I examine parliamentary debates, media reflections, and reactions to the European Commission’s progress reports to trace the evolution of concepts such as sovereignty, national interest, and integration during the pre-accession period. These discussions reveal both enthusiasm for a "return to Europe" and resistance framed in terms of defending national autonomy.

My preliminary findings can be summarized as follows: first, postsocialist transformation and European integration were mutually shaping processes, not parallel ones. Second, Europeanization unfolded as a dynamic, negotiated process that was legal, political, and conceptual. Third, political concepts acted as mediators of this transformation. Some concepts disappeared, some were redefined, and new concepts entered Czech politics directly through the accession process.