ABSTRACT
The demise of the communist regimes in the countries of East Central Europe in 1989 and their emancipation from Soviet domination resulted in a radical geopolitical re-orientation of these countries towards the Euro- Atlantic space. After the dissolution of the military and economic instruments of Soviet rule, namely the Warsaw Pact and Comecon, these countries sought integration into West European and Atlantic structures with the ultimate aim of becoming members of NATO and the European Union. Both memberships had a strategic value and were additionally endowed with a large symbolic importance, namely as representing a confirmation of the European identity of East Central Europe.
