For their part, European aerospace firms say that Central Europe would hasten its integration with Western Europe by buying their fighters.

ECONOMIST: Selling arms to Central Europe

Where governments reflect the preferences and beliefs of most citizens, democratically or otherwise, and where those preferences call for cultural distinctness and non-western values, economic integration does not militate against diversity, least of all against religious diversity.

ECONOMIST: The hubris of the West

Like many Western solar firms, it is also aggressively pursuing vertical integration.

ECONOMIST: Solar power

Overcoming the Cold War required courage from the people of Central and Eastern Europe and what was then the German Democratic Republic, but it also required the steadfastness of Western partner over many decades when many had long lost hope of integration of the two Germanys and Europe.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama and Chancellor Merkel Press Conference

Your words were also very important, when you said that in the process of European integration you can see an opportunity to reenforce the world of Western values.

WHITEHOUSE: President Obama��s Bilateral Meeting with President Komorowski of Poland | The White House

Cemex's own answer is that the deal will give it a solid cashflow in western Europe (where it now operates only in Spain), opportunities in eastern Europe, and some integration of the two companies' operations in the United States, where both get about a quarter of their sales.

ECONOMIST: Cement