On 6 October 2015, Dimiter Toshkov took part in a roundtable discussion on "Democracy in East Central Europe before and after EU Integration. A debate about pre- and post-accession conditionality". The debate was held at Central European University in Budapest and was hosted by the Center for EU Enlargement Studies and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Budapest.

In his talk, Dimiter Toshkov pointed out that formal compliance with EU rules in Central and Eastern Europe after accession to the EU remains relatively good and that, overall, the post-communist member states transpose EU legislation largely correctly and on time, have fewer infringement cases, fewer infringements cases that are not settled, and higher proportions of wins at the adjudication phase at the European Court of Justice than many countries from Western and Southern Europe (see also MAXCAP Working Paper No. 8). At the same time, while necessary, formal compliance with EU rules is not sufficient to guarantee good governance, rule of law, and democracy. Nevertheless, Toshkov emphasized that when EU norms are specified in formal secondary legislation, the EU institutions seem to possess relatively effective mechanisms for enforcing compliance with its rules at the national level. This conclusion has important implications if the EU wants to expand its efforts in supporting democracy in existing and prospective member states.