An East-West divide in the European Union? Analysis of selected policy areas
The East-West divide in the EU has become a topic in discussions over EU affairs.
The Debate often measures cultural, national, or sociological differences. In this paper, the aim was to look at the decision-making processes among the EU member states and to try to assess whether the coalitions formed when dealing with important EU issues give us a hint on whether it is possible to talk about an East-West divide. Specifically, we focus on the areas of climate policy, multiannual financial framework, and migration. These three examples of policy areas show that while conceptually tempting, the notion of an East-West divide is also simplistic and does not find support in reality.