Median Europe

Median Europe (or Middle Europe) - a term defining European non-Russian countries subject to Soviet influence after 1945, but not long enough to efface their cultures and history, playing a role of palimpsest.
The term is a result of controversies and disputes about the imprecise divisions in Europe. “Median” Europe is situated “between two” : between two worlds, between two stages, between two futures. Median Europe is opposed to the Western and Eastern Europe, is one of the “Three Europes”.

It is not Eastern Europe, Central Europe is based on different criteria of distinction and has different geographical spread. The term “Central and Eastern Europe” is controversial (countries of Central Europe and of Eastern Europe belong to two different cultural circles), but administratively admitted.

Although the concept of Median Europe exists in the discourse, its northern and southern frontiers may vary among social scientists.

Definitions

In most definitions, countries of Median Europe are: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Moldavia, Bulgaria and Serbia

Oscar Halecki

Oscar Halecki, who distinguished four regions in Europe (Western, West Central, East Central and Eastern Europe) defined East-Central Europe as a region from Finland to Greece.

Michael Foucher

Michael Foucher defined Middle Europe as an intermediate geopolitical space between the West and Russia, a space of historical transitions between these two organizational poles; political and territorial heirs imposed from the East, i.e. Kremlin; nowadays streamlining process imposed by the West.. According to this author, the following sub-regions form Median (Middle) Europe:
* in the North - Central Europe stricto sensu (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia)
* in the South - Romania, Bulgaria, FYROM, Albania, the region “overflows towards Ukraine and Belarus”
*Greece is cited as not being a part of Median Europe but playing an important role there

Daniel Calin

In the Final Report "NATO and the EU in the Balkans - a Comparison” prepared by Romanian NATO Fellow Daniel Calin, three sub-regions of Median (Middle) Europe are distinguished:
* Northern Middle Europe (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - the Baltic States)
* Central Europe “stricto sensu” (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia)
* South-Eastern Europe (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, FYROM, Romania, Slovenia, plus the continental parts of Greece and Turkey)
South-Eastern Europe is distinguished from the Balkans, defined as the region consisting of most of the countries in the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia - Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, FYROM, plus Albania and Bulgaria. The report précised that Romania and Greece are sometimes incorrectly regarded as Balkan countries.

Centre for the Study of Median Europe

CEEM (Centre for the Study of Median Europe) defines Median Europe as an area situated between Germany and Russia, from the Baltic region to Balkans. The centre conducts its research on 18 European cultures: Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Polish, Romanian, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Sorbian, Czech and Ukrainian.

Internal links

*Central Europe
*South-Eastern Europe
*Balkans
*Northern Europe
*Eastern Europe
*Western Europe
*Mitteleuropa

Further reading

*J. Kloczowski, East Central Europe in the historiography of the countries of the region, Institute of East Central Europe, Lublin, 1995
*I. Loucas, The New Geopolitics of Europe & The Black Sea Region, Naval Academy, UK National Defence Minister’s Staff, p. 8
*O. Halecki, The limits and divisions on European history, Sheed&Ward, New York 1950
*Y.Shimov, Middle Europe: On the way home, Eurozine 2002/10/11
*N. Popa, Frontiere, regiuni transfrontalieresÅŸi dezvoltare regionala in Europa Mediana, Ed. Universitatii de Vest, Timisoara, 2006, ISBN 973-125-039-5
*G. Zrinscak, L' Europe médiane : des pays Baltes aux Balkans (Dossier n. 8005), La Documentation française 1999
*P. Verluise, Géopolitique de l'Europe. L'Union européenne élargie a-t-elle les moyens de la puissance ?, Collection Référence géopolitique, Paris, éd. Ellipses, 2005

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