² Although, interestingly, the Commission chose not to include parties among the political conditions of entry. See Pridham, Geoffrey, ‘European Union Accession Dynamics and Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe: Past and Future Perspectives’, Government and Opposition, 41: 3 (2006), pp. 373–400 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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¹³ The history and developments of the parties under study are based on analysis of a variety of secondary resources, party documentation and 10 semi-structured interviews carried out with international secretaries, MEPs and officials from the PES between 2005 and 2008. Interviews focused on attempting to gauge respondents’ attitudes to the role of the PES in developing social democratic parties in CEE states and ascertaining perceived benefits and problems associated with the strategies adopted by the PES.

¹⁴ Haughton, ‘Driver, Conductor or Fellow Passenger?’, p. 424.

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²⁰ For example, the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party was very strongly supported by the Swedish Social Democrats, who financed the party and helped extensively with organization in the first free elections.

²¹ See Pridham, ‘Complying with the European Union's Democratic Conditionality’, p. 71.

²² See Newman, ‘The Party of European Socialists and EU Enlargement to the East’.

²³ Robert Ladrech ‘Programmatic Change in the Party of European Socialists’, in P. Delwit (ed.), Social Democracy in Europe, Brussels, ULB, 2005, pp. 49–58.

²⁴ PES, Statutes of the PES, Brussels, PES, 2006.

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³¹ Interview, Riga, 2007.

³² Interview, Riga, 2007.

³³ Delwit, ‘Electoral Developments in European Social Democracy’.

³⁴ There is a Lithuanian Labour Party that was created in 2003. Despite using the label ‘Labour Party’ it is seen to have an ‘indistinct ideological profile’ with very little in the party programme that indicates a coherent leftist profile. It did consider joining the PES group in the EP but opted instead for the European Democratic Party. The LSDP as a firmly entrenched PES member would have vetoed the inclusion of this new and populist party, see Kjetil Duvold and Mindaugas Jurkynas, ‘Europeanization Without Party Involvement: The Case of Lithuania’, in Lewis and Mansfeldova, The European Union and Party Politics, pp. 107–27.

³⁵ See Herbert Kitschelt, Zdenka Mansfeldova, Radoslav Markowski and Gabor Toka, Post-Communist Party Systems, Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999.

³⁶ Delwit, ‘Electoral Developments in European Social Democracy’.

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⁴¹ Enyedi and Lewis, ‘The Impact of the European Union on Party Politics in Central and Eastern Europe’.

⁴² Delsoldato, ‘Eastern Enlargement by the European Union and Transnational Parties’, p. 281.

⁴³ Karen Henderson, ‘Slovak Political Parties and the EU: From Symbolic Politics to Policies’, in Lewis and Mansfeldova, The European Union and Party Politics in East Central Europe, pp. 149–68.

⁴⁴ The two nationalist parties were the Slovak National Party (SNS) and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS). See Handl, Vladimir and Leška, Vladimir, ‘Between Emulation and Adjustment: External Influences on Programmatic Change in the Slovak SDL’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 21: 1 (2005), pp. 105–22CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁴⁶ PES, ‘Resolution Adopted by the PES Presidency’, Brussels, 12 October 2006, http://www.pes.org/downloads/PES_resolution_on_SMER_EN.pdf (accessed 28 August 2009), see http://www.euractiv.com/en/future-eu/slovak-party-suspendedpes/article-158775 (accessed 20 September 2010).

⁴⁷ SMER only regained provisional membership at this time.

⁴⁸ Haughton, Tim and Rybář, Marek, ‘A Tool in the Toolbox: Assessing the Impact of EU Membership on Party Politics in Slovakia’, Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics, 25: 4 (2009), pp. 540–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁵⁰ Ibid.

⁵¹ T. Gallagher, The European Union and Romania: Consolidating Backwardness? Open Europe, 26 September 2006, http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracyeuropefuture/EU_romania_3943.jsp.

⁵² Pridham, ‘European Union Accession Dynamics and Democratization in Central and Eastern Europe’, p. 387.

⁵³ Sloam, ‘West European Social Democracy as a Model for Transfer’.

⁵⁴ Attila Ágh, The Europeanization of Social Democracy in East Central Europe, Brussels, Europäische Politik, 2004.

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⁵⁷ Letter to the authors from senior PSD official, 2007.

⁵⁸ Vachudova, ‘Tempered by the EU?’.

⁵⁹ Stephen Day, ‘Assessing the Role and Significance of Transnational Political Parties within the European Union’, executive summary, ESF Exploratory Workshop, 2002.

⁶⁰ Ibid.

⁶¹ Voeten, Erik, ‘Enlargement and the “Normal’ European Parliament’, in Thomassen, J. (ed.), The Legitimacy of the European Union after Enlargement, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 147–72Google Scholar.

⁶² Day, ‘Assessing the Role and Significance of Transnational Political Parties’.

⁶³ Interviews, 2007.

⁶⁴ Delsoldato, ‘Eastern Enlargement by the European Union and Transnational Parties’.

⁶⁵ Day, ‘Assessing the Role and Significance of Transnational Political Parties’.

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⁷⁰ Simon Lightfoot, Europeanizing Social Democracy? The Rise of the PES, Oxford, Routledge, 2005.

⁷¹ Ágh, The Europeanization of Social Democracy in East Central Europe.

⁷² See Hanley, Beyond the Nation State, p. 77; Hough, Dan, ‘Third Ways or New Ways: Post Communist Left in Central Europe’, Political Quarterly, 76: 2 (2005), pp. 253–63CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁷³ Ibid.

⁷⁴ Interview, Budapest, 2005.

⁷⁵ Interview, Vilnius, 2007.

⁷⁶ In 2004, a Latvian construction company, Laval, won a bid to build a school in Vaxholm in Sweden. However, the Swedish construction trade union, Byggnads, sought to ensure that Laval abided by Swedish wage agreements. Initially, Laval refused to do so, insisting it was a Latvian company employing Latvian workers under Latvian terms and conditions. Consequently, Byggnads instigated a blockade of the worksite, and Laval responded by seeking a court ruling against the union. The case eventually came before the Court of Justice (C-341/05). Although an initial opinion in May 2007 came out in favour of the Swedish union, the final decision in December that year went largely in favour of the Latvian company. See Gerrard, John, ‘Vaxholm/Laval Case: Its Implications for Trade Unions’, Employee Relations, 30: 5 (2008), pp. 473–8Google Scholar.

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⁸¹ Interviews, Riga and Tallinn, 2007.

⁸² Interview, Budapest, 2005.

⁸³ Interview, Bratislava, 2005.

⁸⁴ Interview, Riga, 2007.

⁸⁵ Interview, Budapest, 2005.

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⁸⁸ Interview, Budapest, 2005.

⁸⁹ Ibid.

⁹⁰ Interview, Riga, 2007.

⁹¹ Interview, Bratislava, 2005.

⁹² Interview, Budapest, 2005.

⁹³ Taggart, Paul and Szczerbiak, Aleks, ‘Contemporary Euroscepticism in the Party Systems of the European Union Candidate States of Central and Eastern Europe’, European Journal of Political Research, 43 (2000), pp. 1–27 Google Scholar; Kopecky, Petr and Mudde, Cas, ‘The Two Sides of Euroscepticism: Party Positions on European Integration in East Central Europe’, European Union Politics, 3: 3 (2002), pp. 297–326 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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⁹⁵ Buras, ‘Polish Social Democracy, Policy Transfer and Programmatic Change’.

⁹⁶ Camilla Sandström, ‘The European Liberal, Democrat and Reform Party: From Co-operation to Integration’, in Delwit, Kulahci and Van Walle (eds), The Europarties: Organisation and Influence, pp. 157–84.

⁹⁷ Interview, Brussels, 2006.

⁹⁸ Poguntke et al., ‘The Europeanisation of National Party Organisations’, pp. 748–9.

⁹⁹ Simon Hix and Klaus Goetz, Europeanised Politics? European Integration and National Political Systems, London, Routledge, 2000.

¹⁰⁰ Natalia Timus, ‘Coming Closer to Europe: Transnational Cooperation between EPFs and Post-Soviet Parties’, GARNET Working Paper 72/09, Warwick, 2009.