This is a report written by Marko Bonac and John Martin. The topic of this report is the current state of research and education networking in wider Europe. It focuses on geographic variations and in particular on the digital divide between the most developed and least developed National Research and Education Networks (NRENs). A major part of this report is based on a comprehensive survey of NRENs in "Neighbouring Countries" carried out in spring 2003. The survey reviewed the current standard of research network provision in the Neighbouring Countries. There is a great variation between countries. Several accession states have research networks of a high standard. Finally, the survey shows that the European Union has already proved to be very influential in persuading governments in Neighbouring Countries that are accession states or aspire to EU membership to commit to the Information Society. Therefore the EU could be equally persuasive in showing the importance of research networking. Specifically, the EU should help drive the further liberalisation of telecommunications and in particular help to persuade national governments that NRENs should get access to dark fibre.