Perceptions de l’Est par rapport à l’Ouest

In 2004, first post-communist countries joined the European Union. Hence, the bipolar vision of Europe (that would be composed of West and East) seems to fade away. Nonetheless, this might not be the case in matters of collective identity. In this essay, I will be using theoretical tools coming from the field of sociology of memory (that tries to understand intertwined relations between memory, history and politics) in order to present grievances of the “East” towards the “West”. I will start by tackling the definition of Central Europe, in order to be able to assess subsequently what are the expectations of the countries that constitute this region, towards their Western neighbours, in terms of the recognition of the memory of their communist past and how this question, if ever, is dealt with at the European level.