New Europe
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
New Europe is a rhetorical term used by conservative political analysts in the United States to describe European post-Communist countries. The term implies that there is no single Pan-European identity in the European Union, but that it is divided (and that part of it is 'better'). It is a common example of the American view-point on European affairs, and is regarded as an "ignorant"-one by many European politicians.
Countries described by conservative American political analysts include (but are not necessarily limited to; from west to east):
- the Czech Republic
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- Poland
- Hungary
- Slovakia
- Romania
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Estonia
- Bulgaria
"New European" countries were most of all distinguished by their governments' support of the 2003 war in Iraq, as opposed to an "Old Europe" noted as unsupportive of the war. The term clearly wasn't based so much on the facts on the ground as on the impact its usage was intended to create. The governments of several other countries, such as the UK, Denmark, Italy, Portugal and Spain also supported the war, but can not be conceived to belong to any New Europe; and the public opinion in New Europe, like in the "Old", was markedly more suspicious of the proposed war than the public opinion in the United States. However New Europe countries didn't experience protests on the scale seen in Old Europe, or anti-americanism, neither was the support for operation in Iraq a major issue in internal politics.
The phrase became famous after a comment by Donald Rumsfeld who, when asked about the fact that over 70% of the people in Europe were opposed to the Iraq invasion, replied:
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Article from Slate
- EUFPC European Foreign Policy Council
- History and institutions of the united Europe (Videos, photos, maps,...) : European Navigator
- New Europe Newspaper— Covers EU institutions and 49 countries in and around Europe
