New Europe is a rhetorical term used by conservative political analysts in the United States to describe European post-Communist countries including (but not necessarily limited to):

• Poland
• the Czech Republic
• Hungary
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Romania
• Bulgaria
• Lithuania
• Latvia
• Estonia.

"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, Ireland, 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.

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:

"You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France.

I don't.

I think that's old Europe."

Although they have been pro-American since the fall of communism, some believe that the governments of "New Europe" felt obligated to support the war effort because of their pending membership in NATO. While their impending membership of the European Union clearly was not at stake, their active participation in a process that weakened and divided the EU may to some degree have damaged these countries' reputation in other EU countries' foreign ministries and public opinions. However, if aversing the US Congress, the caused damage might have been complicated or impossible to repair, for New Europe resulting in a considerbly weakened position vis-à-vis a Russia that sometime in the future undoubtly will regain strength. A disturbance of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, on the other hand, seemed possible to mend once they had been admitted to the EU.

See also

• The letter of the eight
• The Vilnius letter

External link

• Article from Slate