Vnímanie členských krajín EÚ slovenskými rozhodovateľmi
Perception of EU Member States by Slovak Decision Makers

Summary/Abstract: This paper examines Slovak decision makers’ perception of the rest of the European Union member states. The underlying assumption is that member states’ mutual perceptions of each other are important for developing informal and like-minded groups that gained a prominent role in the Council of the EU within the enlarged EU. Due to the large number of decision makers participating in meetings, formal processes have partly been replaced by informal ones, as they enable pre-discussions and thus smoothen the functioning of the Council. Based on interviews with Slovak representatives, the present research identifies differences in the perception of EU member states. The size and level of trade with an EU member seem to be linked to its perception: bigger countries are perceived more favourably than smaller ones. Geographical distance does not seem to have an impact on perception. The paper discusses Poland as the main exception to these findings in more detail.

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