Pressures toward alignment of the criminal justice systems of Western Europe, the strong foreign influence in Central and Eastern Europe, and the unifying effect of the 40-member Council of Europe throughout the region make comparisons among European criminal justice systems fluid; differences observed today may not exist tomorrow. The member states of the European Union are seeking to create a uniform "judicial space" from the Arctic to the Mediterranean, from the Atlantic to the Alps. Within this judicial space, mutual assistance would be made as accessible as possible. In addition, almost all of the European Union countries have signed the so-called Schengen Accords, which is designed to promote even more intense cooperation, including the full elimination in due time of internal frontier controls. This, along with other developments, will bring the criminal justice systems closer to one another. The Central and Eastern European countries, in turn, are reforming their criminal justice systems rapidly, receiving considerable support and guidance from the Council of Europe and the European Union. Reform and increasing integration in Eastern, Central, and Western Europe will increase the number of common denominators of European criminal justice systems. 30 references