The New Europe

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the former Eastern bloc began emerging from its communist past, with 10 Central and Eastern European countries joining the European Union (EU) since 2004. The EU-10 — as they are called — have embraced a bold new course in foreign policy, focusing solidly on the West with their allegiances resolutely bound up with the EU and NATO. Democracy has gained a foothold in the so-called New Europe, and the region's enthusiastic adoption of free-market policies has spurred faster growth. But it has had its dark side too: Large-scale westward emigration has robbed their economies of many of their best and brightest and strained relations with their new European partners. In addition, former Soviet satellites in the region also harbor growing apprehension about estranged “Big Brother” Russia's intentions under the increasingly authoritarian President Vladimir Putin.