The article provides an overview of reforms carried out and of the state of the education and training system in the former acceding countries and the candidate countries. First, it reveals the considerable mismatch between the quantitative efficiency of the education systems and the lack of education and training provision for adults. It then considers the economic context and the unemployment situation, showing the extent to which matters associated with transforming the "socialist" model of economic structures still adversely affect the updating of training systems. The third and fourth sections examine the stages by which education and training policies have been introduced since 1990, and the challenges that they face today, especially in the design of lifelong learning strategies. (Contains 2 tables and 49 footnotes.)