During the last fifteen years, nations in former Eastern Europe embarked on a historic transformation away from centrally planned economies to market-oriented ones.The Central and Eastern European countries have benefited enormously from integrating their economies with the bigger and wealthier ones in Western Europe since the early 1990s. The objective of joining the EU served as an external anchor for reforms. As a result, these countries have gone from post-Communist chaos to orderly EU membership in less than a decade and a half (Barysch, 2006).

The issue of regionalization has become a crucial point in the process of European Unification. As such, the region has become a major political institution in the process of European policy development (Eckardt, 2005). In the context of the ongoing enlargement process, a number of border regions will gain the potential to set up dynamic functional relationships with new neighbours. These new relationships will develop increasingly autonomous from national policies and agenda’s. The concept of transregionalism focuses on the heightened interconnectivity between regions and the loosening of boundaries between countries (Van der Knaap & Wall, 2006).

The related concept of transnationalism has facilitated the flow of people, ideas and goods between regions. It has been greatly affected by modern communication technology, immigration and globalization.

One hypothesis that can be put forward is that transnationalism is based on a market orientated dynamics; therefore can lead to a more continuously “shape shifting Europe”.