ABSTRACT
The Iron Curtain that separated the Eastern Block from Western Europe fell around 1990. This event changed the name of the region containing the former socialist countries. The countries closest to Western Europe, i.e. Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia are now referred to as Central European Countries (CECs). The reference is mainly used in combination with the adjacent region of Eastern European countries, Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs), to which Romania and Bulgaria belong. The division between Central and Eastern Europe is subject to debate (Dingsdale, 1999).
