Transforming states and the construction of progress. European Commission monitoring in Central East Europe.

Opinions, rankings and evaluations of states' performances are proliferating. In the context of the transformation and EU accession of Central and East European (CEE) states, there were many organizations involved in the scrutiny of their efforts to become accepted as modern and European. A main argument is that by evaluating and reporting on states, the European Commission can be analyzed as an "auditor" of transformations in applicant states. The empirical base consists of interviews with officials of the national administrations in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well as at the European Commission. The European Commission Regular Reports are also studied. The findings are analyzed by using audit concepts combined with ideas from the field of transnational regulation of states. The monitoring of the Commission is described as producing comfort and as creating a mutual base of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]