Because the spread of influenza depends of many factors one might not expect a particular pattern. Still, four out of eight seasons showed a clear west-east spread of influenza. In three seasons there was a south-north spread. The overall indication for a west-east spread was stronger than for a south-north spread, which means that a west-east spread of influenza is a more common, but far from consistent phenomenon in Europe. It is noteworthy that the westeast spread occurred in 4 consecutive seasons during which the more virulent A(H3) was the dominant virus. It should be noted that the data for 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 were not complete: a number of important countries to the east of Europe (Latvia, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Poland) were not included in the analysis because data were not available. This might have affected our westeast analysis.