The EU and its Relations with Eastern Europe

Mutual Animosity, Unattainable Friendship and Faraway Neighbours

Nienke de Deugd, Assistant Professor of International Political Economy, University of Groningen, the Netherlands and Herman W. Hoen, Professor of International Political Economy, University of Groningen, the Netherlands and Associate Fellow, School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna (SAIS Europe) of Johns Hopkins University, Italy

The politico-economic relations between the European Union (EU) and Eastern Europe are currently entering a new phase, which some scholars qualify as a revival of the Cold War. This insightful book seeks to explain whether and why a Cold War Europe has returned and discusses underlying factors that clarify the relations between East and West since the Second World War.

‘In their ambitious new book, Professors de Deugd and Hoen argue that European countries are not “backsliding” and East-West relations are not “deteriorating”; instead we are seeing deep and enduring institutional tensions in how politics and economics are interconnected come once again to the surface. This argument is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the fate of post-Cold War Europe.’
– Erik Jones, Johns Hopkins University, US