Central European Countries Research Articles

Energy Transition in Central and Eastern Europe: A Neo-Colonial Perspective

The article examines the neo-colonial inf luence in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries’ energy transitions, relating energy neo-colonialism with power asymmetries. Most CEE countries began to reduce their reliance on Russian energy after the Cold War, elevating energy security to new levels around 2010. Although European Union (EU) norms have helped counteract Russia’s inf luence on energy, they have brought about a neoliberal neo-colonialism. On the one hand, the CEE countries need reliable and affordable energy supplies to maintain their economic growth, which leaves them prone to the Russian inf luence. On the other hand, the EU’s energy rules and regulations, which disregarded the CEE countries’ interests, have resulted in disobedience. The article employs the degrowth concept to examine energy neo-colonialism in the CEE, contending that the concept stands out as a hopeful signpost for realizing the scenario wherein the CEE countries’ interests can be protected and prioritized.

International mobility between the UK and Europe around Brexit: a data-driven study

Among the multiple effects of Brexit, changes in migration and mobility across Europe were expected. Several studies have analysed these aspects, mostly from the point of view of perceptions, motivations, economic effects, scenarios, and changes in migration from Central and Eastern European countries. In this study we propose an analysis of migration and cross-border mobility using an integrated data-driven approach. We investigate official statistics from Eurostat, together with non-traditional data, to give a more complete view of the changes after Brexit, at EU and regional level. Specifically, we employ scientific publication and Crunchbase data to study highly-skilled migration, Twitter and Air Passenger data to investigate monthly trends. While main trends are preserved across datasets, with a general decrease in migration towards the UK immediately after the referendum approval, we are able to also observe more fine grained trends specific to some data or regions. Furthermore, we relate the changes in mobility observed from Air Passenger data with attention to Brexit from Google Trends data.

The genetics of intelligence and social outcomes in a Hungarian twin sample

Most previous research found that within-family resemblance on social outcomes and intelligence is mostly due to genetic factors with a limited role of the shared environment, with the exception of educational attainment. Hypotheses about a gene-environment interaction with SES, with a presumably smaller role of genetic factors in families with low social status, have been only partially confirmed. However, these results do not necessarily generalize to all societies, and data from Central or Eastern European countries is currently deficient. In the current work we replicate using data from the Hungarian Twin Registry that intelligence, income, and educational attainment are substantially heritable, with limited role of the shared environment. In contrast to studies in Anglo-Saxon or Western European countries, we found an influence of the shared environment on standardized high school test scores, especially history. Both genetic and shared environmental (but not nonshared environmental) correlations were substantial, in line with generalist genes and shared environments but specific nonshared environmental effects. The results show that the heritability of social traits is observable in Central/Eastern Europe, but they highlight a potentially problematic aspect of Hungarian high school final tests, as students' family of origin appears to be a potent determinant of grades.

The Interrelationship between Pro-Environmental Attitudes and Subjective Well-Being: The Case of Central and Eastern European Countries

Scientists and policy makers more often point out that pro-environmental attitudes and behaviour are related to subjective well-being, but there is a lack of deep scientific insights, as well as possible measure analysis, which would promote pro-environmental behaviour but, at the same time, lead to higher subjective well-being. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between pro-environmental attitudes, concerns about climate change, and subjective well-being in Central and Eastern European countries. This study employs descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis to identify subjective well-being predictors in the case of Central and Eastern European countries. This study uses data from European Social Survey (ESS) rounds 4–10, and includes questions on pro-environmental attitudes, climate change cognition, orientation towards materialistic values, and households’ total net income. The conducted research revealed that pro-environmental attitudes were related to higher levels of subjective well-being in different ESS rounds in many Central and Eastern European countries. In addition, there is some evidence that the relationship between pro-environmental attitudes and subjective well-being is weaker among individuals who are more oriented towards materialistic values. According to the results of this study, policy makers should develop policies that not only address environmental problems but also contribute to subjective well-being.

ORDOLIBERAL SOCIO-ECONOMIC POLICY AS A MODEL OF REFORMS FOR THE EASTERN PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES

The Ordoliberal economic policy is a valuable source of inspiration for many countries wanting to reform their political and socio-economic systems. It is also a valuable "object" of research and analysis. Ordoliberalism was initially introduced only in the Western occupation zones, then, after the reunification of Germany in 1990, it was extended to the area of the former German Democratic Republic and, to some extent, constituted a reference point for reforms in the countries of Central Europe. In turn, the Eastern Partnership is an initiative based on close cooperation between the EU and six Eastern European countries that are not members of the EU structures. It was inaugurated ten years ago on the initiative of Poland and Sweden. This publication tries to answer the question to what extent the German experience with ordoliberalism can be useful for countries undergoing the process of systemic transformation, with particular emphasis on the countries of Eastern Partnership countries. The analysis was prepared using the institutional and legal method, while the main source base were available scientific publications and published documents. Keywords: Ordoliberalism, Eastern Partnership, Social Market Economy.

From New to Indispensable: How the 2004 Enlargement Reshaped the EU’s Transformative Powers

This editorial introduces a thematic issue that examines the consequences of the accession of the Central and East European countries to the EU 20 years onward. The socioeconomic transformation of these countries in the pre-accession period was considered a remarkable success, that was attributed to the EU’s conditionality policy. However, in the post-accession period, when these countries gained full membership rights and began playing a more active political role, they started deviating from some EU norms and rules, against a backdrop of EU crises. This shift has been, notably, reflected in concerns about democratic backsliding and rule of law violations. Nonetheless, the contributions in this issue also underscore that these countries have internalized (both top-down and bottom-up) EU norms and rules to a much greater extent than the focus on conditionality would suggest. Moreover, since Russia invaded Ukraine, Central and East European countries have become entrepreneurs of EU policy and bolstered its transformative power. These findings indicate a need to focus not only on the fundamental shortcomings in these countries—as the attention conferred to the (lack of post-accession) conditionality suggests—but also to consider other factors, such as the quality of the EU’s governance and political system, policy learning, geopolitics, and member states’ domestic politics.

Legal status and regulation of the German language in the Federal Republic of Germany

ABSTRACT Despite being an official language of several countries in Central and Western Europe, German is not formally recognised as the official language of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, in certain situations the use of the German language, including the spelling rules, is subject to state regulation (by acts of Federal Parliament or by administrative decisions). This article presents the content of this regulation, its scope, and the historical context in which it was adopted.

Femicide and COVID-19 Pandemic: Examining the Situation in Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia

Government measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 affected crime opportunities and criminal justice systems, resulting in changes in crime trends. This article explores the effects of restrictions (lockdowns) on the number of femicides. The monthly data on femicides from 2017 to 2021 were collected in five Central and South-eastern European countries: Croatia, Hungary, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia. The total number of femicides from 2017 to 2021 decreased in all observed countries. Increases were detected in Croatia and Slovenia in 2020. However, they presented an exception to the general trend. The monthly distribution of femicides showed that there was no common point peak month(s) among observed countries. Analyzing the effects of the level of restrictions using the Stringency Index on the number of femicides confirmed the initial observation that the number of femicides was not dependent on lockdown measures. In general, the findings show that restriction measures had no effect on the number of femicides in the studied countries.

Changes in Journalism in Politicized Media Systems: A Study on Newspapers in Poland and Hungary

ABSTRACT This paper comparatively investigates variations in journalistic role performances in politicized media systems. Poland and Hungary are included in the quantitative content analysis as illustrative cases of Central and Eastern European countries featuring democratic erosion, political polarization, and media systems with a high level of political parallelism. Our study identifies whether the fall of liberal and deliberative democracy and increasing political pressure on the media have been accompanied by modifications in the manifestation of journalistic roles and, if so, what those changes have been. We employ Mellado’s (2015) concept of journalistic roles by focusing on democracy-related domains, namely journalistic voice and power relations, and four roles: interventionist, watchdog, loyal facilitator, and civic. We compare data from national newspapers from two periods, namely 2012 and 2020. Despite experiencing similar changes in political context, journalists in Poland and Hungary have differed in their performance of the watchdog and civic roles. However, they have been alike in relation to the steady rise of journalistic interventionism. Surprisingly, we found no evidence of the elevation of the loyal facilitator model in newspapers. This study indicates that systemic politicization and political pressure on the media go alongside with diminishing objectivity and detachment in professional role performance.

Unlocking the hidden realms: analysing the Ukrainian journal landscape with Ulrichsweb

AbstractAlthough Ukraine is one of the leading countries in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of its number of scholarly journals, most of these journals are not widely recognized by the scientific community. This paper presents an in‐depth analysis of scholarly journal publishing in Ukraine, using data from the Ulrichsweb Global Serials Directory. The study aims to provide insights into the quantity and characteristics of Ukrainian journals, with a specific focus on historical context, publisher diversity, language of publication, and subject distribution. The findings reveal that Ulrichsweb encompasses details on over 1,500 active Ukrainian journal titles, some tracing their origins back to the 19th century. Notably, 85% of these journals are disseminated by academic institutions, including universities and research organizations. This study exemplifies the utility of Ulrichsweb as a valuable tool for investigating national scholarly journals underrepresented in other databases.

NON-TERRITORIAL AND TERRITORIAL OBJECTIVES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN ETHNOREGIONAL PARTIES

In Central and Eastern Europe, even the post-socialist period has not made it easy for ethnic communities to exercise their linguistic and cultural rights, and territorial autonomy or self-government, as a risk to territorial integrity, has been granted only in exceptional cases. This paper focuses on the main objectives of ethnoregional parties to reorganise the power structure of the national political system. The study is based on an analysis of core documents from 92 parties in 15 Central and Eastern European countries, identifying and classifying the objectives set out in these documents. The results highlight the ethnoregional objectives in Central and Eastern Europe, including not only the cultural-linguistic dimension but also the need to change internal/external borders or the division of power within each state, highlighting the diversity and complexity of the problems and objectives underlying each category.

The NGEU comes to Visegrád: implementation process and throughput legitimacy

ABSTRACT Existing research on EU legitimacy has neglected one aspect – the transformation of EU strategies into concrete national plans. This article reflects on this gap by analysing the throughput legitimacy of the implementation of the ambitious and transformative Next Generation EU (NGEU) plan into national strategies, called Recovery and Resilience Plans (RRPs), in four Central and Eastern European countries. Focusing on the transparency, accountability, openness and inclusiveness of the RRP elaboration process, it finds that the elaboration process suffered from shortcomings in all aspects analysed. In particular, they affect the quality of legitimacy of the process of implementation. The article found that while the formal aspects of throughput legitimacy were present, most of the factors that create a mirror that shows how actors participated, how their comments were addressed or how the parliamentary role was respected failed in almost all cases. This finding has implications for research on throughput legitimacy, which should focus more on its quality than on its procedural parts.

Prediction of CO2 emission for the central European countries through five metaheuristic optimization techniques helping multilayer perceptron

One of the most significant issues in urban design is energy-related CO2 emissions, which are rising quickly as cities expand. The GDP of the Central European countries (from 1990 to 2016) based on several energy sources, such as coal, oil, natural gas, and renewable energy, are used as inputs in this study. To develop a reliable predictive network considering the problem complexity, multilayer perceptron (MLP) is combined with several nature-inspired optimization algorithms, namely, black hole algorithm (BHA), future search algorithm (FSA), backtracking search algorithm (BSA), biogeography-based optimization (BBO), and shuffled complex evolution (SCE). By applying the approaches mentioned above to the synthesis of the MLP, the recommended BBO, BHA, BSA, FSA, and SCE ensembles are obtained. A series of parametric studies are performed to improve the effectiveness of the employed models. It is found that, by combining the BBO, BHA, BSA, FSA, and SCE algorithms, the MLP's accuracy is increased. The result from this parametric analysis showed that SCE and BBO perform better than the other three algorithms as the CO2 emission was computed with the highest level of accuracy using R2 = 0.9999 and 0.9998, RMSE = 1.6781 and 2.0539 for SCE, and R2 = 0.9999 and 0.9998, RMSE = 1.8689 and 2.3833 for BBO.

Community mental health services in Europe: the state of art

AbstractIn Europe there is significant variability of attitudes, procedure and strategies in clinical care between psychiatrists and settings across different regions and countries. However, there is a significant overrepresentation of data from mental health services from Western and Northern European countries, due a lack of data from Eastern and Central European countries as it has been suggested the Eastern and Central European regions are a “blind spot on the global mental health map”. In respect to community mental health services, Northern and Western countries introduced a large array of multidisciplinary community-based services for people with mental health problems and reorganized the mental health care services towards the community mental health care, replacing largely large hospitals and hospital-based care following recovery-oriented care models with introduction of numerous services which supported full recovery, including supported employment and housing. This process is only in the beginning in the majority of countries in the South and East of Europe. Here we present the data from these countries including the results of the RECOVER-E study (Large-scale implementation of community based mental health care for people with severe and enduring mental ill health in Europe), which incorporated the implementation of community mental health services in five South-eastern European countries.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

A Multivariate Performance Analysis of the Plastics Manufacturers: Comparative Analysis of European Regions

Abstract This study evaluates the economic performance of plastics manufacturers in European regions (e.g., Western, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Baltic States) between 2017 and 2020 based on data from 3,372 companies using multivariate correspondence analysis (MCA) and Welch’s test. They were analyzed according to the indicators of profitability, sales (or turnover), employment, and total assets. The results of MCA show that Central and Eastern European companies are absolute leaders in terms of profitability. While Southern European companies have the highest total assets, their sales and profitability are lower compared to other regions. We found that Western European companies lead in terms of turnover and that the Baltic region is roughly on par with Central and Eastern European countries in terms of profitability and employment. These differences were also tested using the pairwise Welch’s test, which revealed highly statistically significant differences, especially in turnover and total assets. The results also show that profitability levels are similar regardless of company size, while sales and total assets are significantly different across European regions. These findings on plastics manufacturers in different European regions are crucial to help policymakers and industry leaders make informed decisions to address economic performance, investment and environmental concerns, and to develop sustainable solutions for the plastics industry.

Importance of women empowerment for eco‐efficiency of small farms in the context of other social factors: Building sustainable agriculture in Central and Eastern European countries

AbstractIt is widely assumed that women's empowerment plays a key role in achieving sustainability in agriculture. However, there is a lack of empirical analysis to support this claim and operationalise the concept of women's empowerment. Furthermore, it has not been formally demonstrated through which farming practices women's empowerment can contribute to the development of sustainable agriculture, or whether gender empowerment is indeed meaningful compared with other well‐documented social drivers. We calculated frontier eco‐efficiency, taking into account specific environmental pressures (i.e., soil biodiversity loss) and public goods (i.e., plant diversity) as desirable outputs in small crop farms, which dominate in Central and Eastern European countries (Poland, Romania, Serbia and Moldova), based on a survey conducted in a sample of 1630 units. We estimated the impact of different levels of women's and men's empowerment on eco‐efficiency in the context of other time‐invariant socio‐economic factors (i.e., succession, age, education and specialisation) in a two‐stage double‐bootstrapped Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. A set of four levels of gender empowerment was defined, taking into account social participation and decision‐making power. We then assessed the degree of input and output inefficiency associated with each level of gender empowerment. The general conclusion is that lower levels of women's empowerment have a negative impact on eco‐efficiency. Therefore, the issue of gender empowerment, not only in terms of equality, decision‐making and access to resources, but also in terms of social participation, should be emphasised in sustainable agriculture policies, on a par with the issue of ageing farmers and farm succession.

Health status in selected post-communist European countries: a comparative study between Poland and Albania.

The aim of this analysis was to compare selected health status indicators of the Albanian and Polish populations, pertinent to two former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This analysis was based on the estimates related to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 study, reported by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). For Poland, IHME uses data mainly from the Central Statistical Office of Poland, whereas for Albania the information is based on the reports from the National Institute of Statistics. In 2019, life expectancy at birth was slightly higher in Albania compared to Poland (78.5 years vs. 78.1 years, respectively). Mortality rate from noncommunicable diseases was similar in both countries (about 520 deaths per 100,000 population). In 2019, the main risk factor for the overall mortality in both countries was the high systolic blood pressure. In Albania, high systolic blood pressure accounted for almost 32% of deaths from all causes, whereas in Poland it accounted for only 21% of all deaths. The second main risk factor in Albania concerned the dietary factors which were responsible for almost one in four deaths. In Poland, the second main risk factor for all-cause mortality concerned tobacco which was responsible for one in five deaths. The third leading risk factor in Albania was tobacco (responsible for one in five deaths), whereas in Poland it concerned the dietary risks (responsible for about 19% of the all-cause mortality). This analysis provides useful information about the current health status of two populations pertinent to the former Communist Bloc in CEE. While health indicators can provide important information about the differences in health status between populations, it is important to interpret these indicators in the context of the specific challenges and limitations facing each country.

Forces of energy welfare in Central Europe: The Russian war in Ukraine as a game changer

The Russian war in Ukraine has changed global geopolitical priorities and the policies of individual countries. The consequences of this ongoing war will be felt for decades to come, including the militarisation of states and the strengthening of political-military alliances. This article explores the effects of this conflict through the lens of energy welfare, which is used as an essential litmus test for the transforming economies of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries in Central Europe. Energy security and the energy transition have become critical topics, and energy security and its impact on social welfare affect the sensitive areas of policy choices that will determine the direction of development in this part of Europe. The V4 countries – Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – illustrate a wide range of domestic and geopolitical orientations that place individual countries in different decision-making situations. The ideological and political forces determine the scope for achieving energy welfare and are, therefore, the subject of this article. Based on macroeconomic and survey data results, the article’s primary research query examines how the V4 countries’ reliance on Russian fossil fuels affects their political attitudes and societal perceptions of the conflict in Ukraine, and the implications for their energy security and welfare in the face of the European Green Deal efforts. The different strategies adopted by the four countries considered translate into energy transition pathways to a low carbon economy described in the European Green Deal and strategies to provide energy at a reasonable price at the expense of a coherent European policy towards Russian aggression.

Habitat Diversity, Environmental Conditions, and Distribution of Endangered Fungus Sarcosoma globosum (Ascomycota) in Lithuania.

Sarcosoma globosum (Pezizales, Ascomycota) is a rare and endangered fungus, and it is believed to be extinct in most central European countries. Known records of S. globosum in Lithuania reveal that it is situated on the south-western edge of a shrinking geographical distribution range in Europe. An assessment of the species' current habitat conditions and threats could enhance and provide new knowledge and guidelines to facilitate the efficient conservation of this threatened fungus and its habitats. The main aim of this study was to analyse the habitats and environmental conditions of S. globosum in Lithuania. We examined the diversity of habitats, various soil and tree stand characteristics, forest management activities, and natural disturbances in all 28 known fungus localities. S. globosum habitats in Lithuania are restricted to coniferous forests with the presence of Picea abies; the species was observed in boreo-nemoral bilberry western spruce taiga (the European Nature Information System habitat type T3F14), continental tall-herb western spruce taiga (T3F44), and native fir, spruce, larch, and cedar plantations (T3N1). An analysis of forest stand age structures in Lithuanian S. globosum localities revealed a rather large proportion of young Norway spruce stands of cultural origin (25.6% of study plots were assigned to age classes from 21 to 50 years); nevertheless, the majority of fungus growth sites were situated in older forests. Various natural and anthropogenic disturbances that threaten S. globosum habitats were assessed.

SMEs sustainability: The role of human resource management, corporate social responsibility and financial management

Research background: The sustainability of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) represents a significant scientific and professional problem in the current turbulent period because these enterprises play an important role in any country’s economic and social systems. Purpose of the article: This paper aimed to define the significant sustainability factors of small and medium-sized enterprises and to quantify their impact and importance on the sustainability of SMEs. The areas of Human Resource Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, and financial management were defined as significant sustainability factors. Methods: Empirical research, on which the scientific hypotheses were formulated and evaluated, was conducted in June 2022 in V4 countries (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Poland, and Hungary) using a structured questionnaire. The study accumulated a sample of 1398 respondents. Data collection was conducted through an external agency, MN FORCE, operating in Central European countries. The Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) method was used to record respondents’ perceptions. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and linear regression analysis were used to evaluate the hypotheses. Findings & value added: The research showed that all defined factors in the areas of Human resource management (HRM), Corporate social responsibility (CSR), and financial management of the firm had an impact on defined sustainability attributes. The greatest impact was found on the firm’s financial management, followed by CSR and HRM. The empirical results confirm that the intensity of the independent variables varies across the V4 countries. These results also show that the intensity of the selected HRM, CSR, and financial management factors of a firm is higher in the integrated models than in the models for individual V4 countries. The research results have shown that a range of factors determine the right attitude towards the sustainability of companies. In this context, economic policymakers and entrepreneurs must perceive sustainable growth as complex and apply a systemic approach to its design and implementation.