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Central and Eastern Europe
 
 
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Central and Eastern Europe is a term describing former communist state
Communist state

Communist state is a term used by many political scientists to describe a form of government in which the state operates under a single-party state and declares allegiance to Marxism-Leninism or a derivative thereof....
s in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, after the collapse of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain was the symbolic, ideological, and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991....
 in 1989/90. In scholarly literature the abbreviations CEE or CEEC are often used for this concept. CEE includes all the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc

During the Cold War, the terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to European annexed or expanded Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR and Satellite state states, including members of the Soviet-dominated organizations Comecon and the Warsaw Pact....
 countries west of the post-World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 border with the former Soviet Union, the independent states in former Yugoslavia (which were not considered part of the Eastern bloc), and the three Baltic states — Estonia
Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
, Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
 — that chose not to join the CIS
CIS

CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of nine former Soviet Union republics.CIS may also refer to:...
 with the other 12 former republics of the USSR.






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Central and Eastern Europe is a term describing former communist state
Communist state

Communist state is a term used by many political scientists to describe a form of government in which the state operates under a single-party state and declares allegiance to Marxism-Leninism or a derivative thereof....
s in Europe
Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, after the collapse of the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain was the symbolic, ideological, and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991....
 in 1989/90. In scholarly literature the abbreviations CEE or CEEC are often used for this concept. CEE includes all the Eastern bloc
Eastern bloc

During the Cold War, the terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to European annexed or expanded Soviet Socialist Republics of the USSR and Satellite state states, including members of the Soviet-dominated organizations Comecon and the Warsaw Pact....
 countries west of the post-World War II
World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
 border with the former Soviet Union, the independent states in former Yugoslavia (which were not considered part of the Eastern bloc), and the three Baltic states — Estonia
Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
, Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
 — that chose not to join the CIS
CIS

CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of nine former Soviet Union republics.CIS may also refer to:...
 with the other 12 former republics of the USSR. The transition countries
Transition economy

A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a planned economy to a free market. Transition economies undergo economic liberalization , macroeconomic stabilization where immediate high inflation is brought under control, and restructuring and privatization in order to create a financial sector and mo...
 in Europe and Central Asia are thus classified today into two political-economic entities: CEE and CIS
CIS

CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of nine former Soviet Union republics.CIS may also refer to:...
. The CEE countries are further subdivided by their accession status to the European Union
Enlargement of the European Union

Enlargement of the European Union is the process of expanding the European Union through the accession of new Member State of the European Union....
 (EU): the ten first-wave accession countries that joined the EU in May 2004 (Estonia
Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Finland across the Gulf of Finland, to the west by Sweden across the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by the Russia ....
, Latvia
Latvia

Latvia The Latvians are a Baltic peoples culturally related to the Estonians and Lithuanians, with the Latvian language having many similarities with Lithuanian language, but not with the Estonian language....
, Lithuania
Lithuania

Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest....
, Poland
Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian Enclave and exclave, to the north....
, Czech Republic
Czech Republic

The Czech Republic , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east....
, Slovakia
Slovakia

Slovakia . It was amended in September 1998 to allow direct election of the president and again in February 2001 due to EU admission requirements....
, Hungary
Hungary

Hungary , officially in English the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia....
, and Slovenia
Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in southern Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north....
) and the two second-wave accession countries that joined in January 2007 (Bulgaria
Bulgaria

The state of Bulgaria , Scientific transliteration Balgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria has played a significant role in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe for over fourteen centuries....
, Romania
Romania

Romania is a country located in Southeastern Europe Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian Mountains, bordering on the Black Sea....
). According to the World Bank
World Bank

The World Bank is a bank that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries for development programs with the stated goal of reducing poverty....
, "the transition is over" for the 10 countries that joined the EU in 2004.

CEE includes the following former socialist countries, which extend east from the border of Germany and south from the Baltic Sea to the border with Greece:
  • Baltic states
          • States of former Yugoslavia:


Other former Communist countries in Europe — Belarus
Belarus

Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north....
, Ukraine
Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south....
, Moldova
Moldova

Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
, and Russia
Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
 — are members of CIS
CIS

CIS usually refers to the Commonwealth of Independent States, a modern political entity consisting of nine former Soviet Union republics.CIS may also refer to:...
 and are not included in CEE. The term Central and Eastern Europe (with its abbreviation CEE) has by now displaced the alternative term East-Central Europe
East-Central Europe

East-Central Europe ? a term defining the countries located between German language-speaking countries and Russia. Those lands are situated ?between two?: between two worlds, between two stages, between two futures....
 in the context of transition countries
Transition economy

A transition economy or transitional economy is an economy which is changing from a planned economy to a free market. Transition economies undergo economic liberalization , macroeconomic stabilization where immediate high inflation is brought under control, and restructuring and privatization in order to create a financial sector and mo...
, mainly because the abbreviation ECE is ambiguous: it commonly stands for Economic Commission for Europe rather than East-Central Europe.

See also

  • East-Central Europe
    East-Central Europe

    East-Central Europe ? a term defining the countries located between German language-speaking countries and Russia. Those lands are situated ?between two?: between two worlds, between two stages, between two futures....
  • Central Europe
    Central Europe

    Central Europe is the region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern Europe and Western Europe Europe. In addition, Northern Europe, Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe may variously delimit or overlap into Central Europe....
  • Eastern Europe
    Eastern Europe

    Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...