New Europe / Old Europe

I was recently led to think about the theme "New Europe". This is understood to mean the proliferation of 'new' states in Central and Eastern Europe - what were once just one country have split and expanded into 2, or 6, or 16.

I composed this image based on that idea. Each circle corresponds to a European country. The circles increase in size, following the declared independence of countries. Thus, the smallest is the oldest, the largest is the newest. San Marino is "Europe's oldest country" as it was founded in the 4th century. Serbia is Europe's newest, officially established in June of this year after Montenegro voted in a referendum to separate from Serbia. Each country is also laid down in order, thus Serbia is to the front, in the lower centre of the picture.

And, below, is the opposite - the countries of Europe, with the oldest as the largest and the newest as the smallest.