By contrast, other ex-Communist countries now have youngish, polyglot leaders such as Hungary's Viktor Orban or Estonia's Mart Laar to schmooze for them at international meetings.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

At the 2003 capitalist ball Mart Laar, a former prime minister of Estonia, was given a special award to celebrate the fact that, in 1994, his country had become the first in Europe to introduce a flat tax, of 26%.

ECONOMIST: The impact of central Europe's tax revolution

In addition, and without implying they would necessarily agree with the views expressed here, the author would like to thank: Lajos Bokros, Robert Braun, Martin Bruncko, Robert Cooper, Pavol Demes, Jeremy Druker, Michel Foucher, Andrew Gardner, Heather Grabbe, Charles Grant, Istvan Gyarmati, David Kral, Mart Laar, Edward Lucas, Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Jiri Pehe, Sandra Pralong, Olli Rehn, Gyorgy Schopflin, James Sherr, Pirkka Tapiola, Emma Udwin and Alexander Vondra.

ECONOMIST: Sources and acknowledgments