This paper analyses the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) for infrastructure development in the new EU member states and candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe. It surveys projects in transport, water, energy, and telecommuni-cations sectors and then focus on the highway sector. Based on theoretical considerations and extensive fieldwork in Hungary, Poland, Croatia, and the CzechRepublic, it acknowledges that PPPs have not been very successful in the region to date. This is mainly due to the unfavourable institutional environment during the transition period, suboptimal project design, and unrealistic demand projections.