Central Europe

The concept of Central Europe remains the subject of discussion ^[5] , although the countries that make up the Visegrád group are almost always de facto considered countries of Central Europe ^[6] . Various sources refer different countries to the countries of Central Europe, but most often the following are referred to countries of Central Europe:

• Austria
• Hungary
• Germany
• Liechtenstein
• Poland
• Slovakia
• Slovenia ^[7] (sometimes referred to southeastern Europe ^[8] )
• Czech
• Switzerland

Depending on the context, Central European countries are either Western or Eastern Europe ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]} . For example, Austria can be attributed to the Central European countries, to the Eastern European ^[13] and Western European ^[14] .

Other countries

Some scholars also include the following countries in Central Europe based on historical, geographical, and / or cultural ties:

• Croatia ^{[15] [16] [17] [18] [19]} (often referred to Southeast Europe ^{[20] [21]} )
• Romania ( Transylvania ^{[22] [23]} ) ^{[24] [25] [26]}

The Baltic countries , geographically located in Northern Europe, belong to Central Europe in the German sense of the term, that is, to Mittel-Europe . Benelux countries in most cases are attributed to Western Europe, and not Central. However, they are sometimes mentioned in connection with Central Europe due to their historical, cultural and linguistic ties.

Parts of the following states are also sometimes referred to Central Europe:

• Italy ( South Tyrol , Trieste , Trento , Gorizia , Friuli )
• Ukraine ( Transcarpathia ^[27] , Galicia and northern Bukovina ^[23] )

Central Europe is not so much a geographical reality as a historical, in a sense, historical and ideological concept.

Friedrich Naumann put forward the concept of Mitteleuropa outlined by him in a book of the same name at the height of the First World War ( German - central Europe). In it, Central (more precisely, “Middle”) Europe was seen as a sphere of influence of Germany , expanded after its alleged victory in the war, but it also stipulated the need to build cooperation between the countries of the region, primarily economic, on a mutually beneficial basis.

In a new form, the concept of Central Europe became the subject of relatively wide debate in the 1980s . The fact that Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary belonged to the sphere of influence of the USSR aroused rejection in most of the elites of these countries. From this came the concept of the need to “return to Europe” in the future, which was thus identified with Western Europe. It was within the framework of this concept that an essay by Milan Kundera about Central Europe was written, which he described as Europe "stolen", captivated by an alien East, personified by Russia / USSR.

In fact, the “legalization” of the concept of Central Europe occurred after the 1989 revolutions , after the fall from the communist regimes. It became clear that post-communist transformations in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary are proceeding faster than in the former USSR (with the exception of the Baltic countries ) and the former Yugoslavia . So the “big” socialist Eastern Europe of the 1940s – 1980s began to be considered as several regions, one of which was the newly emerging Central Europe.

There are conflicting assessments and economic interpretations of the place and role of Russia in the foreign policy and foreign economic strategy of the countries of Central Europe, numerous points of view on the formation of a new regional identity of the Central European countries ^[28] .

The economic crisis of the post-socialist countries, caused by systemic transformation, and the disintegration processes in the post-Soviet space in the 1990s led to the dismantling of the previous mechanisms of economic cooperation and the transition from a duty-free trade regime under the CMEA to the most favored nation treatment, as a result of which the foreign economic reorientation of the countries of Central Europe adopted the nature of the unidirectional trend ^[29] .

The development of processes of international economic integration in Central Europe in the 1990s led to the formation in 2001 of a duty-free zone between participants in the Central European FTA , the Baltic FTA and the EU and EFTA countries . The isolation of Russia, which did not participate in these processes, contributed to a further reduction in the volume of trade and economic interaction between Russia and the countries of Central Europe, and the degradation of the commodity structure of their foreign trade turnover.

Based on the analysis of the transformation of the trade regime of the CE countries in connection with their accession to the EU and Russia to the WTO, it can be argued that the competitiveness of Russian energy exporters will deteriorate due to the fact that the EU’s requirements for diversification of energy import sources and other legislation have come into full force EU in the field of energy ^[29] .

• Northern Europe
• Southern Europe
• Central and Eastern Europe
• Visegrád group
• European Union
• Geographic Center of Europe

• Alexey Miller . The theme of Central Europe: history, contemporary discourses and Russia's place in them
• Yaroslav Shimov. Central Europe: small nations in search of a "big homeland"
• Yaroslav Shimov. Central Europe: the way home
• Oskar Krejčí. "Geopolitics of the Central European Region. The view from Prague and Bratislava ” Bratislava: Veda, 2005. 494 p.
• Taranov P. M. Transformation of trade and investment cooperation between Russia and the countries of Central Europe: Author. dis. for a job. scientist step. Ph.D. - Rostov n / a: Growth. state Univ., 2004 .-- 26 p.
• Taranov P. M. Foreign Economic Relations of Russia with the Post-Socialist Countries of Central Europe // News of Higher Education Institutions. North Caucasus region. Social Sciences. 2003. - No. 3.