Abstract
The Czech perception of the European project cannot be separated from and how Czechs defined themselves vis-à-vis Europe. Transformation was symbolized by the metaphor of a ‘return to Europe’, the new identity was based on a positive identification with Western democracies and on a negative attitude towards the concept of communism and towards Russia.
For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, the discourse of transformation builds upon two pillars: Firstly, faith in free markets and the ideology of neoliberalism, secondly, dissident tradition, portraying politics as a clash between good and evil, succeeding the clash between dissidents and the communist regime. However, after achieving the main goal of EU (and NATO) membership, the consensus began to erode.