Back To Europe: Central And Eastern Europe And The European Union


For a while, cooperative non-Communist parties were tolerated. The communists had a natural reservoir of popularity in that they had destroyed Hitler and the Nazi invaders. Their goal was to guarantee long-term working-class solidarity. Under pressure from Stalin these nations rejected grants from the American Marshall plan. With the fall of the Iron Curtain in , the political landscape of the Eastern Bloc , and indeed the world, changed. Czechoslovakia peacefully separated into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

EU members in process of withdrawing: Albania , Macedonia , Montenegro , Turkey , and Serbia. States that froze or withdrew their EU applications: Iceland , Norway , and Switzerland.

States officially recognized as eligible to apply for EU membership: Georgia , Moldova , and Ukraine. Membership not a goal. Southeast Europe and Balkans. History of the Caucasus. International relations — and Interwar era. Other countries formerly part of the USSR. Members of the Warsaw Pact. Other former Communist states not aligned with Moscow. Geography portal Europe portal. Aarebrot 14 May The handbook of political change in Eastern Europe. Archived from the original on 10 June Retrieved 23 February Archived from the original on February 13, From Conflict to Cooperation".

Geopolitics of European Union Enlargement: Government Archived February 5, , at the Wayback Machine. Comparative Hungarian Cultural Studies. Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts , pp.

The European Union and Central and Eastern Europe, part 2

Retrieved 22 April A History of Eastern Europe — Empires, Nations and Modernisation. A History of the Global Economy. From to the Present. The Crushing of Eastern Europe, Random House Digital, Inc. The Crushing of Eastern Europe, — introduction, pp xxix—xxxi online at Amazon. Sovereign states and dependencies of Europe. States with limited recognition. Faroe Islands 1 autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Svalbard unincorporated area subject to the Svalbard Treaty. Military Sovereignty predecessor states.

Ageing Ethnic groups genetic history Immigration Life expectancy Retirement. According to the Bribe Payers Index , released yearly since by the Berlin -based NGO Transparency International , Germany and Switzerland, the only two Central European countries examined in the study, were respectively ranked 2nd and 4th in Industrialisation occurred early in Central Europe.

That caused construction of rail and other types of infrastructure. Central Europe contains the continent's earliest railway systems, whose greatest expansion was recorded in Austro-Hungarian and German territories between s. Railway density, with total length of lines operated km per 1, km2, is the highest in the Czech Republic Before the first railroads appeared in the s, river transport constituted the main means of communication and trade.

Industrialisation has reached Central Europe relatively early: Central European countries are some of the most significant food producers in the world. Germany is the world's largest hops producer with Poland is the world's largest triticale producer, second largest producer of raspberry, currant, third largest of rye, the fifth apple and buckwheat producer, and seventh largest producer of potatoes.

The Czech Republic is world's fourth largest hops producer and 8th producer of triticale. Hungary is world's fifth hops and seventh largest triticale producer. Serbia is world's second largest producer of plums and second largest of raspberries. Central European business has a regional organisation, Central European Business Association CEBA , founded in in New York as a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting business opportunities within Central Europe and supporting the advancement of professionals in America with a Central European background.

Central European countries, especially Austria, Croatia, Germany and Switzerland are some of the most competitive tourism destinations. Central European countries are very literate. Languages taught as the first language in Central Europe are: The most popular language taught at schools in Central Europe as foreign languages are: English , French and German.

Student performance has varied across Central Europe, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment. In the last study, countries scored medium, below or over the average scores in three fields studied. The first university east of France and north of the Alps was the Charles University in Prague established in or by Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and modeled on the University of Paris, with the full number of faculties law, medicine, philosophy and theology. Its current members include year it joined for the first time in brackets: Central European architecture has been shaped by major European styles including but not limited to: Brick Gothic , Rococo , Secession art and Modern architecture.

Six Central European countries are amongst those countries with higher numbers of World Heritage Sites:. Large Protestant groups include Lutheran and Calvinist. Central Europe has been a centre of Protestantism in the past; however, it has been mostly eradicated by the Counterreformation. Before the Holocaust —45 , there was also a sizeable Ashkenazi Jewish community in the region, numbering approximately In some of these countries, there is a number of atheists , undeclared and non-religious people: Zagreb Cathedral , Zagreb Catholic , Croatia.

Stephen's Basilica in Budapest Catholic , Hungary.

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Jesuit Church, Lucerne Catholic , Switzerland. Abbey of Saint Gall Catholic , Switzerland. Cologne Cathedral Catholic , Germany. Vaduz Cathedral Catholic , Liechtenstein. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna Catholic , Austria. Esztergom Basilica Catholic , is an ecclesiastic basilica in Esztergom, Hungary. Central European cuisine has evolved through centuries due to social and political change. Most countries share many dishes. The most popular dishes typical to Central Europe are sausages and cheeses, where the earliest evidence of cheesemaking in the archaeological record dates back to 5, BCE Kujawy , Poland.

List of countries by beer consumption per capita is led by the Czech Republic , followed by Germany and Austria. Poland comes 5th, Croatia 7th and Slovenia 13th. Human rights have a long tradition in Central Europe. In Hungary defined for the first time the rights of the nobility in its "Golden Bull". In the Statute of Kalisz and the General Charter of Jewish Liberties introduced numerous rights for the Jews in Poland, granting them de facto autonomy. In for the first time, Poland forbid corporal punishment of children in schools.

In the same year, a German state of Baden banned slavery. On the other hand, there were also major regressions, such as "Nihil novi" in Poland in which forbade peasants from leaving their land without permission from their feudal lord. Generally, the countries in the region are progressive on the issue of human rights: Nevertheless, Central European countries struggle to adopt new generations of human rights, such as same-sex marriage. Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland also have a history of participation in the CIA's extraordinary rendition and detention program, according to the Open Society Foundation.

Regional writing tradition revolves around the turbulent history of the region, as well as its cultural diversity.

Central Europe is the region comprising the central part of Europe. The EU keeps hanging somewhere out there as an external entity in the minds of the majority of Central European politicians, serving nicely as a source of money, as a straw man to fend off public frustrations, and as a platform for numerous photo opportunities. The Religious Divisions of Europe ca. Slovenia in "south central Europe". Countries considered to be Central European only in the broader sense of the term. Earth 's oceans and seas. Yet, after securing a wide yet possibly shallow base of public support for EU membership, broader ideals gave way to the burdensome process of managing and administrating the EU membership process and never quite made it back to the realm of Central European politics.

There is a whole spectrum of media active in the region: Central European media are regarded as free, according to the Press Freedom Index, although the situation in Poland, Hungary and Croatia is described as "problematic". Some of the top scoring countries are in Central Europe include: Football is one of the most popular sports.

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Countries of Central Europe had many great national teams throughout history and hosted several major competitions. Central European Defence Cooperation. Central Europe, as defined by E. Central Europe, according to Alice F.

Mutton in Central Europe. A Regional and Human Geography Central Europe is a home to some of world's oldest democracies. However, most of them have been impacted by totalitarian rule, particularly Nazism Germany, Austria, other occupied countries and Communism. Most of Central Europe have been occupied and later allied with the USSR, often against their will through forged referendum e.

Nevertheless, these experiences have been dealt in most of them.

Central Europe

Most of Central European countries score very highly in the Democracy Index: In spite of its turbulent history, Central Europe is currently one of world's safest regions. The time zone used in most parts of the European Union is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is commonly called Central European Time because it has been first adopted in central Europe by year:. While walking over the famous Charles Bridge , the main character, Lovejoy says: Well, it is one of the great unspoiled cities in Central Europe.

The Czechs are a bit funny about that, they think of Eastern Europeans as turnip heads. Wes Anderson 's Oscar-winning film The Grand Budapest Hotel is regarded as a fictionalised celebration of the s in Central Europe [] and region's musical tastes []. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Central Europe according to P. Jones Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography.

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Many Central European countries and regions were part of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires and the Polish—Lithuanian Commonwealth and thus share common cultural and historical connections. Central European countries and regions: Interwar Central Europe according to Emmanuel de Martonne County Museum of Art [31]. Politically independent CE states during Cold War: Finland , Austria , Yugoslavia [40]. Carpathian countries north-west to south-east: Central Europe according to Peter J.

Map of Central Europe, according to Lonnie R. Countries considered to be Central European only in the broader sense of the term. Slovenia in "south central Europe". Countries usually considered Central European. Central European countries in the broader sense of the term. Countries occasionally considered to be Central European. The leading political figures in Central Europe failed to internalize the basic principles of European integration. It has become something of a rule lately that when a Central European country makes it to the front pages of a big international newspaper, it is not cause for celebration.

The autumn of proved this rule to be true more than many Central Europeans would like to admit. Central European governments, namely those that actively opposed the EU quotas as a part of the solution to the immigration crisis, have found themselves in the spotlight of a very heated and emotional exchange. After having witnessed the political development in the region after the EU accession, the fact that this was at all shocking is itself surprising — any involved observer would have had all the evidence he or she needed on hand to support a claim that the troubles in Central Europe have been brewing for some time.

But, as I will explain later, it was convenient for the West to overlook this evidence and for Central European governments to benefit from this conscious negligence. On the other hand, if what has been happening in Central Europe now serves as a wake-up call, all we can say is — better late than never. Yet, such a critical review of Central Europe must acquire a different form than that of an emotional bashing from the West, and no less an emotive rejection on the legitimacy of this moral tongue-lashing from Central-Eastern Europe, which is what we have experienced so far.

If we continue to engage in this kind of dialogue, we run the risk of losing the single biggest achievement Central Europe has given Europe in centuries: In fact, we are sensing a divisive mood in the region already. Just as we are prone to forget what immense potential was yoked because of the division of Europe before , hardly anyone can picture today — if this divisive mood becomes a reality — the cost to be incurred related to all imaginable spheres of life: How did we get to such a breaking point?

A widely used and meritorious explanation points to the fact that Central Europeans failed to think about the future of Europe beyond the immediate goal of their EU membership. In the midst of the revolutions of , a small group of Central European activists, philosophers, thinkers and, dissidents e.

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Yet, after securing a wide yet possibly shallow base of public support for EU membership, broader ideals gave way to the burdensome process of managing and administrating the EU membership process and never quite made it back to the realm of Central European politics.