EN
The ambition of the European Union to realize the Lisbon Strategy and to initiate processes which would enable the Union to achieve this aim constitutes a special challenge for new member states. The article is aimed at answering the question how real the chances are to create in those countries a modern economy based on knowlede. Besides describing the present situation in the economies of those countries in the context of goals of the Lisbon Strategy, the author highlights the most important objectives which those countries should achieve to make the implementation of the strategy the real thing. He also attempts to make an appraisal of the current policy of particular states in this context.