Carefully balanced as it is, your survey of next year’s enlargement of the European Union is cautiously optimistic (”When East Meets West,” November 22, 2003). However, you are considerably less optimistic about European integration that lies further ahead, most notably in the Balkans. This is where your focus on countries rather than regions—that is, politics rather than economics and culture—is maybe to blame. Parts of countries often form larger regions of great importance. Historical ties are often behind such clusters. Rich economic and cultural links between Hungary, Transylvania in Romania, Vojvodina in Serbia, and Slavonia in Croatia offer one example of regional integration to watch; links between Slovenia, Carinthia in Austria, Friuli-Venezia-Giulia in Italy, and Istria in Croatia offer another. There are many others, of course, but these examples are of special interest in the medium term—say, five to ten years. This is where it is reasonable to expect that political integration will follow in the wake of economic and cultural integration, which is already proceeding apace. Looking beyond 2004, European regions loom ever more important. Your survey would therefore benefit from a finer resolution.