ABSTRACT
Following the end of the post-war division of Europe between West and East, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia returned to be part of Central Europe. Although a rather elusive and controversial term, “Central Europe” is used here in a way similar to the practice of the European Union and various international agencies to identify a region that also includes other countries, such as Germany and Austria. This region is usually considered as part of what is defined in a very broad sense as Western Europe. In fact, the four countries were historically, culturally and politically an integral part of the West and economically they were rather strictly integrated with Germany.
