ABSTRACT
It has often been said that the historical importance of the European Union (EU) enlargement of 2004 was that this step reunited the European continent. This chapter presents a historical retrospect of this division of Europe, how it came to be that Europe was politically and economically deeply divided due to the Cold War. The Marshall Plan, NATO, the European integration, progressively liberal regimes for trade and foreign investment, free enterprise and research as well as modern management methods, assured an overall positive and stable economic development in Western Europe. The communist inheritance had several important dimensions for Eastern Europe. The socialist ownership structure had placed industry, services, and agriculture mainly in state hands. The EU saw itself confronted with the task of establishing first generous economic relations and political dialogue and then also of thinking about a viable long-term strategy for a positive relationship between Eastern and Western Europe.
