Where is Central Europe?

摘要

The break-up of cold-war blocks, the varied pace of change in the post-communist world, and the growing fluidity within the European Union make it impossible to stick place-labels on what was once a more easily definable area. A good thing too. Barely a decade ago, there was East and West—and a grey slab of land in the middle of Europe whose inhabitants were told they were eastern and thus within the Soviet orbit, but who mostly wanted to be western and free. Those who had the heart and mind to speak out often called themselves Central Europeans. Now the term is either impossibly blurry or means different things to different people. The place still exists, just, but its rough location may be shifting—further east.