Ten new member states (the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) entered the European Union after 1 May 2004, finalizing the decade-long enlargement process, which had started soon after the collapse of the socialist systems of these countries in late 1980s.
All ten countries have completed the crucial transformation process, which has included changes to their regulatory, institutional and economic systems. PPP frameworks have had to be transformed as well, and pilot projects, focusing specifically on municipal services and transport, have been started in the majority of the new member states. From the legislative point of view, all EU member states have to comply with the aquis communitaire - basic directives, the EU Treaty and other legislation regulating the functioning of the EU. PPP procurement procedures, however, have no defined status in the regulatory framework of the European Union; as a consequence, each member state, including the new member states, has to develop its own PPP legal and institutional framework. In new member states, this enhancement has been influenced greatly by the EU's financial aid requirements, existing legislative and institutional traditions.
The authors have selected the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland for comparison. This selection is due to the existing similarities of these countries' pasts and regional specifics. Previous research on PPPs in the water and wastewater sectors carried out by WEDC, UK proved that these countries are both very similar in terms of PPP-relevant issues, but have different levels of PPP involvement (particularly in the water sector)