European Union, has entries for "23 EU languages" classifying Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian, plus the languages of candidate countries Albanian, Macedonian and Serbian as Central and Eastern European. Contemporary developments Baltic states UNESCO, EuroVoc, National Geographic Society, Committee for International Cooperation in National Research in Demography, and the STW Thesaurus for Economics place the Baltic states in Northern Europe, whereas the CIA World Factbook places the region in Eastern Europe with a strong assimilation to Northern Europe. They are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight regional cooperation forum whereas Central European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. The Northern Future Forum, the Nordic Investment Bank, the Nordic Battlegroup, the Nordic-Baltic Eight and the New Hanseatic League are other examples of Northern European cooperation that includes the three countries collectively referred to as the Baltic states. Estonia Latvia Lithuania Caucasus states The South Caucasus nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are included in definitions or histories of Eastern Europe. They are located in the transition zone of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. They participate in the European Union's Eastern Partnership program, the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, and are members of the Council of Europe, which specifies that all three have political and cultural connections to Europe. In January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. However, Georgia is currently the only South Caucasus nation actively seeking NATO and EU membership. Armenia Azerbaijan Georgia There are three de facto independent Republics with limited recognition in the South Caucasus region. All three states participate in the Community for Democracy and Rights of Nations: Abkhazia Artsakh South Ossetia There are seven republics in the North Caucasus that fall under direct Russian political control: Adygea Chechnya Dagestan Ingushetia Kabardino-Balkaria Karachay-Cherkessia North Ossetia-Alania Post-Soviet states Some European republics of the former Soviet Union are considered a part of Eastern Europe: Belarus Moldova (sometimes considered a part of the Balkans or Southeast Europe) Russia (western portion) Ukraine Unrecognized states: Transnistria Central Europe The term "Central Europe" is often used by historians to designate states formerly belonging to the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the western portion of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. In some media, "Central Europe" can thus partially overlap with "Eastern Europe" of the Cold War Era. The following countries are labelled Central European by some commentators, though others still consider