The open letter to the Obama administration (EDM, July 22) carries the signatures of 22 personalities including former heads of state and prime ministers, other statesmen and policymakers from Central-Eastern European countries. Made public on July 16, the letter draws on a concept paper issued three days previously by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF). Some of the signatories -including Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel- are emblematic of the region's democratic liberation (An Open Letter to the Obama Administration from Central and Eastern Europe, July 16; GMF Policy Brief, Why the Obama Administration Should Not Take Central and Eastern Europe for Granted, July 13).
Overall, the document reflects growing concerns that the United States has been drifting apart strategically from Central-Eastern Europe (and from Europe generally); and that this trend might continue under the pressure of Washington's policy priorities, inherited by the new administration.
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