ABSTRACT
Unfortunately, it is a common experience that the member countries of the European Communities regard only themselves as parts of Europe. They emphasise their separation from the eastern half of Europe and enter into a self-defensive alliance against the much more dynamic overseas super-economies. Yet there are also a lot of countries whose reference to themselves as being Central European is no accident, because they wish to be distinguished from East Europe and the Balkan. Just as the notion of Europe is not reflected in mere fancies and ideas, we have to regard its internal geographical division, as well as the differences between the various parts of the Continent which derive from their peculiar historical development, as reality. The Continent has been unified by a network of natural, socio-historical and political regions for centuries (Enyedi 1990b).
