Intra-regional Political and Industrial Exchange and Clusters in Central Europe. Is there an Integrated Central European Region?

Strong trends towards internal integration were expected to emerge in the eastern region after the fall of eastern European communist regime in 1989 and the abolition of internal borders between the two parts of Europe. There were many rea- sons for such expectation: common industrial legacy and adherence to the old Common Soviet Market (Comecon), the elite's wish to "come back to Europe" after 50 years of the arbitral division, or the fact of most of the sovereign countries turning to NATO and EU at the same time. Moreover, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary integrated into a political al- liance in 1990, the so-called Visegrád Group, based on the relations that originated before 1989 between the leaders of social movements that came to power after 1989. Therefore, in the very beginning of the new era, free from communism, there were reasons to expect political integration to generate strong regional integration. The return of democracy had to result in the emergence of the common market. However, the very perspective of the common activity based on the political union, leading to economic integration, was dashed to the ground. There was no common economic vision. Each country began its own journey to transformation supported by the European Commission by giving up general negotiations to bilateral dialogue with each of the countries.