Central European Initiative Research Articles

The Reaction of the Central European Initiative and the Bulgarian Government on the Russian Aggression Against Ukraine During the Bulgarian Presidency Held in the CEI in 2022

The Initiative’s reaction on the war in Ukraine is decisive. The initiative issued a number of statements condemning Russia’s military actions. It also decided to suspend Belarus from CEI membership rights due to the country’s involvement in the war. Moreover, CEI provided material and financial assistance to Ukraine. The activities of the Initiative prove that the Initiative performs many important tasks for the security and stability of Central and Eastern Europe and effectively responds to the challenges that Europe is currently facing. However, Bulgaria’s position on this issue has been divided since the beginning of the Russian aggression. The lack of consensus among political parties at the level of declarations causes some problems with direct aid to this country.

Security Dimensions of Geopolitical Initiatives in the Сentral and Еastern Еurope Region

From 2014 till today one can observe the process of reshaping of the existing system of international relations, the transformation of approaches to the resolution of military and political conflicts of both individual states and international organizations, the formation of new military-political alliances and blocs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the security potential of some recent geopolitical initiatives in the region of Central-Eastern Europe, in particular, the Central European Initiative, the Three Seas Initiative and the Lublin Triangle. Central European Initiative was founded in 1989 in Budapest. It was created in order to develop the cooperation of the member states in the sphere of politics, economy and culture. The main purpose is their inclusion in the European integration processes. Currently, there are 9 EU member states from CEI member states, which makes possible establishing of the effective interaction and partnership relations between them and the states that have declared their will to join the EU. The Three Seas Initiative (or Trymorja (Three Seas), also known as the Baltic-Adriatic-Black Sea Initiative) appeared on the geopolitical map of Central and Eastern Europe in August, 2016 in Croatia, Dubrovnik. The main goal of Trymorja is to develop the economy and enhance closer cooperation between the regions of Central and Eastern Europe. The Lublin Triangle was created on July 28, 2020 “with the aim of strengthening political dialogue, trust and strategic partnership between Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine in the field of security and defence, supporting the development of economic cooperation and cultural exchange”. All before mentioned initiatives support Ukraine in its struggle against Russia. Their participants condemned the Russian invasion and cooperate for protection of the international order and law. While CEI and Trymorja are more economic initiatives, Lublin Triangle has a strong security component. The last one is important under conditions of the open war in Europe. In contemporary conditions the role of such regional initiatives is growing and they are creating the new architecture of international order.

Założenia oraz cele Grupy Wyszehradzkiej, Inicjatywy Trójmorza i Inicjatywy Środkowoeuropejskiej a instytucjonalno-prawny wymiar prewencji terrorystycznej przykładowych państw członkowskich: Węgier, Estonii i Łotwy

The aim of this article is to present the most important assumptions and goals of three international regional initiatives important from the point of view of Central, Central and Eastern Europe and Central and South Europe: the Visegrad Group, the Three Seas Initiative and the Central European Initiative, as well as institutional and legal solutions of selected countries associated with them in the field of terrorist prevention. For the analysis of the materials found, including studies and documents, the content analysis, the method of information synthesis and critical analysis were used. In addition, a case study, conceptual analysis and synthesis used in the description of key conclusions drawn after the literature review on various solutions, concepts and methods related to the presented issues (international regional initiatives, prevention and combating terrorism in exemplary countries) were used.

ІНІЦІАТИВА «ТРИМОР’Я» ЯК СТРАТЕГІЧНИЙ ПРОЄКТ «НОВОЇ» ЄВРОПИ

Today, the "Three Seas" initiative unites 12 Central European states in the space from the Baltic to the Black and Adriatic seas. Its members are: Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria. Participating countries with a population of 111 million people account for almost a third of the territory of the European Union. The article describes the reasons and prerequisites for the creation of the Trimore initiative. The evolution of the Three Seas initiative from its inception to 2022 is followed. It is determined that the key concept of the initiative is based on the global confrontation, which intensified after Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea. At the present stage, the idea of unification of states from the Baltic to the Black and Adriatic seas, as it was at its inception, is actively supported by the United States of America. The article identifies the main problems of the Three Seas. The transformation of the attitude of the European Union to this program is defined. The author points out that Poland's attempts to realize its historical Central European ambitions led to the formation of the image of the new Central Europe as a component of the transatlantic community. The author makes an attempt to determine the functionality and competitiveness of the new association in relation to other numerous regional entities. The creation of the Trimore, like some other modern Central European regional projects, in particular the Visegrad Group, did not go without the approval of the USA. The role and purpose of these regional structures are different, and their functioning depends on whether they find their special niche. After all, the Central European initiative evolved over three decades only into a regional forum of a larger format, but of lesser significance. Only the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war led to the intensification of the dialogue between the participants of the Three Seas in order to ensure their own energy independence from the Russian Federation.

The 3 Seas Initiative: Post-Pandemic Awakening

The article provides an overview of the evolution of the idea of The Three Seas from its beginnings till the 2021 summit. According to the author, one of the impulses to its creation was the global confrontation that arose after the events of 2014 in Ukraine. This is felt notwithstanding the fact that this country is not yet a member of the project that celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2021. Today, this idea of uniting States in the space from the Baltic to the Black and Adriatic Seas, as well as when it originated, is actively supported by USA. In addition, the author shows how the attitude towards this program on the part of Germany and the European Union has changed significantly over the past six years. In fact, during this time, from Poland's attempt to realize its historical Central European ambitions, the initiative has transformed into a prototype of a new Central Europe, as an integral part of the Transatlantic community. In addition to the stages of development, the author examines the problem of the functionality of the new association, as well as its competitiveness with other regional entities, such as the Visegrad Group, the Central European Initiative, Slavkov Interaction, Chinese 17+1 initiative, etc. As a result, she comes to the conclusion that each of these structures, being an expression of the historical desire of the peoples of the region for rapprochement and finding a new role in Europe and the World, plays its own party and can compensate for the others, depending on the world situation.

A preliminary study of science diplomacy networks in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe

Science diplomacy (SD) is an emerging field of study at the intersection of international relations and science policy. Despite such a growing interest, the region of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe has received limited attention by the scholars studying this increasingly significant topic. This article presents the preliminary results of a research focusing on international scientific collaborations between the countries that are members of the Central European Initiative (CEI), an intergovernmental forum for regional cooperation spanning across this broad region of Europe. Using social network analysis (SNA), the paper explores which countries are the most prominent in these cooperation networks and whether the countries sharing EU membership are clustered into separate, distinct subgroups, with fewer or weaker ties with Non-EU members.

The Three Seas Initiative: Geopolitical Determinants and Polish Interests

Since 2015, Polish foreign policy has witnessed a gradual rise in the significance of regional cooperation, as reflected in its enthusiasm for the Three Seas Initiative (TSI)1. The Initiative constitutes an in statu nascendi undertaking, one which aims to consolidate cooperation among states located in the region between the Baltic, Black, and Adriatic Seas. (In Poland, a popular acronym to denote the project is the “ABC initiative,” which reflects the Polish names of these bodies of water [i.e., Adriatyk, Bałtyk, Czarne]. However, itmust be emphasized that the member states of the TSI do not operate invacuum, but rather within a broader institutional framework that includes the European Union, the Central European Initiative, and the Visegrád Group. This paper begins by outlining the prospective geopolitical determinants that will determine the success or failure of the TSI, with particular attention paid to issues of regional security. It concludes by analysing how the Initiative may become a new model for regional cooperation.

The Support of Agricultural Land Through the “Central European Initiative on Agricultural Land Protection”

Abstract The protection of the qualitative aspects of agricultural land is in the interests of both Slovakia and the European Union. Several policy documents have emerged in the European Union over the last few years, however, they have not been legally binding, as the EU Member States refuse all binding legal acts in this area. Therefore, solving the problem of agricultural land protection is left to the exclusive competence of the EU Member States. On the other hand, problems related to agricultural land cross the borders of states and that is why the Department of Law, Faculty of European Studies and Regional Development, Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra submitted an international research project under the Erasmus + program, Key Action 3: Jean Monnet entitled “Central European Initiative on Agricultural Land Protection”. The aim is to strengthen the dialogue between key stakeholders in the protection of agricultural land in Central Europe what will have a positive impact on the achievement of the EU agri-environmental and food policy objectives.

Україна на шляху до європейської інтеграції: уроки з досвіду Польщі

Завданням статті є висвітлити основні етапи на шляху до європейської інтеграції Польщі, проаналізувати головні особливості кроків Польщі на шляху до європейської інтеграції, висвітлити успішний досвід інтеграції України до Ради Європи. Також у статті проаналізовано сучасні настрої населення щодо майбутніх перспектив України. Встановлено, що підтримка незалежності України населенням починаючи із 1991 року в падала до 2016 року – понад 90% населення підтримувало незалежність у 1991 році; близько 47% населення підтримувало незалежність у 2011 році; понад 87% населення підтримувало незалежність у 2016 році. Проаналізовано та охарактеризовано основні організації, до яких вступала Польща на шляху до Європейського Союзу, зокрема, у 1991 Польща стала повноцінним членом Ради Європи; 1991 року створено «Вишеградське об’єднання» та «Комітет розвитку франко-германопольської співпраці» Центральноєвропейська Ініціатива, Рада Держав Балтійського моря; у 1999 році початок членства Польщі у НАТО. Висвітлено проблемні питання для України на шляху європейської інтеграції. Проаналізовано та висвітлено основні етапи формування та зміни законодавства України відповідно до вимог Ради Європи. Використовувалися наступні методи дослідження як порівняльний метод, ретроспективний метод, науковий метод, метод контент-аналізу. В результаті було досягнуто висновків, що досвід Польщі може слугувати як загальним прикладом, так і дорожньою картою для європейської інтеграції України, адже Польща, маючи однакове соціально-економічне, політичне становище як і України, змогла пройти увесь шлях та стати дійсним членом Європейського Союзу, в той час як в України ще довгий шлях попереду. Рамки дослідження охоплюють останнє десятиліття ХХ століття та початок ХХІ століття. Результати дослідження можуть бути використані при формування національної стратегії європейської інтеграції, зовнішньої політики України та для навчальних матеріалів, посібників.

Editorial introductions

Current Opinion in Oncology was launched in 1989. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of psychiatry is divided into 15 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Robert PirkerRobert PirkerRobert Pirker is currently Professor of Medicine and Program Director for Lung Cancer at the Department of Medicine I, Medical University of Vienna, Austria. He obtained a master's degree in Biochemistry in 1978 and his medical degree in 1979 from the University of Vienna. Robert Pirker trained in Internal Medicine, Hemato-Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the University of Vienna. He also worked as NIH Visiting Fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Chief: Dr Ira Pastan), National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA (1983–86). He specialises in hemato-oncology. His research focuses on drug resistance mechanisms in patients with cancer, chemotherapy and targeted therapy of lung cancer, predictive factors in lung cancer, and anaemia management in patients with cancer. As a member of the IALT-Bio and LACE-Bio groups, he has been involved in the characterization of predictive factors with regard to adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with completely resected NSCLC. He was also the world-wide Co-ordinating Investigator of the FLEX trial. Robert Pirker has published more than 150 articles, reviews or book chapters. He is an editorial board member of Lung Cancer, ESMO faculty member on Chest Tumors, and has been a member including Chair of the IASLC Education Committee. He was Congress President of the 8th Central European Lung Cancer Congress in 2002 and Chair of the Scientific Committee of the European Multidisciplinary Conference on Thoracic Oncology in 2009. He will be Congress President of the 14th Central European Lung Cancer Congress in 2014 and the 17th World Congress on Lung Cancer in 2016 in Vienna, Austria. He is also Chair of the Steering Committee of the recently launched Central European Initiative against Lung Cancer. Robert Pirker has received several scientific awards and has been a member of ESMO, ASCO and other scientific societies for many years. Reinhard DummerReinhard DummerProfessor Reinhard Dummer is Professor of the University of Zurich and Vice-Chairman of the Department of Dermatology in the University Hospital of Zürich, Switzerland and is a key thought leader in worldwide cutaneous oncology. Currently he is head of the Skin Cancer Unit and the Clinical Trial Unit of the Department of Dermatology. Professor Dummer began his medical education in haematology and oncology before successfully completing his dermatology residency in Würzburg, Germany, and Zürich in 1992. He is Board Certified in allergology, clinical immunology, dermatology and dermatopathology. Professor Dummer's principal research interests are molecular biology, immunology and immunotherapy of cutaneous malignancies, including cutaneous lymphomas and melanomas. He has published more than 560 papers with a cumulative impact factor of more than 4790. He has been President of the Melanoma Project Group of the Swiss Institute for Applied Cancer Research since 1999, is board member of the Society for Melanoma Research and past President of the International Society for Cutaneous Lymphomas. He is a founding and board member of the European Association of Dermato-Oncology (EADO), and past President of the European Society for Dermatological Research (ESDR).

INCA-CE: a Central European initiative in nowcasting severe weather and its applications

Abstract. The INCA-CE (Integrated Nowcasting through Comprehensive Analysis – Central Europe) project aims at implementing a transnational weather information system as well as applications for different socio-economic sectors to reduce risks of major economic damage and loss of life caused by severe weather. Civil protection and also stakeholders from economic sectors are in a growing need of accurate and reliable short-term weather forecasts. Within INCA-CE, a state-of-the art nowcasting system (INCA) is implemented at weather services throughout the European Union's CE (Central Europe) Programme Area, providing analyses and short term forecasts to the aforementioned end-users. In a coherent approach, the INCA (Integrated Nowcasting through Comprehensive Analysis) system will be adapted for implementation and use in a number of partner countries. Within transregional working groups, the gap between short-term weather information and its downstream activities in hydrological disaster management, civil protection and road management will be bridged and best practice management and measure plans will be produced. A web-based platform for outreach to related socio-economic sectors will initiate and foster a dialogue between weather services and further stakeholders like tourism or the insurance sector, flood authorities for disaster management, and the construction industry for cost-efficient scheduling and planning. Furthermore, the project will produce a compact guideline for policy makers on how to combine structural development aspects with these new features. In the present paper, an outline of the project implementation, a short overview about the INCA system and two case studies on precipitation nowcasts will be given. Moreover, directions for further developments both within the INCA system and the INCA-CE project will be pointed out.

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL

Law school accreditation in the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union: what steps for the future?

Legal education reform has recently emerged as a key component in the rule of law promotion in the former Soviet Union republics,1 now sovereign and independent states collectively known, for the purpose of this paper, as the New Independent States (NIS). Scholarly articles and international forums2 suggest that legal education reform could be advanced by developing and implementing accreditation procedures for law schools, updating law school curricula, establishing transparent and rigorous grading standards, and retraining the law faculty. This paper discusses just one of these measures, namely the development and implementation of quality evaluation and accreditation procedures for law schools in the NIS region. In order to explore this issue in detail, the paper has been structured into six parts. Part I provides a brief overview of legal education in the Soviet Union, thus placing the issues tackled in this paper into a historical perspective. Part II describes the main changes occurring in the higher education system in general and legal education in particular in the NIS region after 1991, emphasising new challenges that privatisation of the higher education sector posed to the quality of legal education, thus triggering an urgent need for quality-assurance and accreditation mechanisms. The currently existent NIS practices of licensing, evaluation and accreditation of academic institutions, including law faculties within multi-disciplinary academic institutions, as well as separate law schools, are described in Part III. Parts IV and V adopt a comparative approach to accreditation by providing an overview of accreditation procedures in the United States, and the recent initiative and trends in quality evaluation and accreditation in Western Europe. Drawing upon the information provided in Parts I–V, Part VI offers concrete suggestions and recommendations for improving the implementation of accreditation procedures in the NIS region. The materials contained herein represent the opinions of the author and editors and should not be construed to be the view of either the American Bar Association or the Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative. The views expressed herein have not been approved by the House of Delegates or the Board of Governors of the ABA and, accordingly, should not be construed as representing the policy of the ABA. Nothing contained in this report is to be considered as the rendering of legal advice for specific cases, and readers are responsible for obtaining such advice from their own legal counsel. This report is intended for educational and informational purposes only. Research performed on Westlaw country of West Group.

Consensus on medical treatment of metastatic breast cancer: a central european initiative

Consensus on medical treatment of metastatic breast cancer: a central european initiative

Nationalism, History and Identity in the Balkans: An Overview of Recent Histories of Europe's South-East

Review Article Nationalism,HistoryandIdentityin theBalkans: An Overviewof Recent Historiesof Europe's South-East DEJAN DJOKIC Benson, Leslie. rugoslavia. A Concise History.Palgrave,Basingstokeand London, 2001. XXX + 20 I pp. Maps. Glossary. Chronology. Notes. Bibliography.Index. 1i6.99. Biondich, Mark. Stjepan Radic,theCroat Peasant Party,andthePoliticsof Mass Mobilization, I904-1928. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo, NY, and London, 2000. xi+ 344 pp. Notes. Bibliography.Index. [40.00;[i6.oo. Crampton, R. J. 7The BalkansSincetheSecondWorldWar.Longman/ Pearson, London and New York, 2002. xxxiv + 374 pp. Maps. Tables. Notes. Bibliography.Index. [i 6.99 (paperback). Mazower, Mark. TheBalkans. From theEndofByzantium tothePresent Day. Phoenix Press,London, 2002 (thirdimpression;firstpublishedby Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2000). XVi+ 176 pp. Maps. Chronology. Guide to furtherreading.Notes. Index. [6.99 (paperback). Pavlowitch, Stevan K. A History oftheBalkans, i804-1945. Longman/ Pearson, London and New York, I Viii? 375 pp. Maps. Glossary. Guide to further reading. Notes. Index. [i6.99 (paperback). Pavlowitch, Stevan K. Serbia:TheHistory Behind theName.Hurst & Co., London, 2002. Xii + 252 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. CI4.95 (paperback). IF Europe's nineteenth century was marked by the formation of modern nations, the twentieth century could be describedas an era of theirattempteddestruction.Greatachievementsin the fieldsof human and minority rights and an unprecedented revolution in science, medicine and computer technology cannot be separated, when one looks back at the last century, from conflicts which aimed to kill or expel those belonging to a 'wrong'nation and/or ideology. Millions of innocent civilians died and an equally horrifying number of people were forced to migrate, forever changing the ethnic map of the Dejan Djokic is Lecturerin ContemporaryHistory at BirkbeckCollege, Universityof London. His edited book Yugoslavism: Historiesof a FailedIdea, I9I8-I992 is published by Hurst & Co. (London) and University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 2003. 512 RECENT HISTORIES OF EUROPE S SOUTH-EAST continent. Wars, revolutionsand ideological conflictswere part of the history of most of Europe at one point or another during the short twentieth century, whose 'legacy' has enriched modern vocabularies with terms such as 'genocide', 'holocaust', 'population transfers',and 'ethnic cleansing'. Yet, there is a popular tendency in the West to associateEurope's'darkside'almostexclusivelywith its South-East. In the political and popular discourse in both the West and the region itself, the term 'Balkans',increasinglyhidden behind its more acceptable pseudonym 'South-Eastern Europe', usually implies the place of recurrentcivilwars,political assassinations,'ethnic cleansing', 'ancient ethnic and/or religious hatreds'. 'To Balkanize' means, according to all major dictionaries and thesauri, to divide into a number of small, mutually hostile units. No wonder then that the Balkanpeoples themselvesdo not wish to be in the Balkans,preferring instead to escape to 'South-Eastern'or 'Central' Europe, if 'Europe' itselfremainsan aspiration. Like 'CentralEurope', the Balkansis much more of a political than a geographical construct. Unlike 'Central Europe', however, no one wants to be associatedwith it. It is temptingto suggestthat the Balkans actuallydoes not exist,because it isusuallyclaimedthatit is somewhere else; even its most central regions tend to protest against being describedas Balkan Bulgarianairlinesnotwithstanding.'As Stevan Pavlowitch writes in the concluding chapter of his excellent, and inexplicablyoverlookedby reviewers,historyof the Balkans: Somepartsof thepeninsulaaresaidto be Mediterranean (ifnot actually north Atlantic), or Latin (hence virtually western European), or central European (and woe to anyone who dares hint at the Balkans there), or Alpine (if not actually Austrian) [. .] That leaves only the dregs who are stuck 'in the Balkans' because they are no longer 'in Europe' [ . .] The toponym easilybecomes an insult,meaning non-Europe or the darkside of Europe.2 Several years ago a festival of'Central European culture', held in London and organized by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, included works of Bosnian artists (presumably because Bosnia-Herzegovina was part of the Habsburg Empire between I878 and I9 I8), while in November 2002 the Central European Initiative held its summit in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia (CEI, which started as Quadrilateral Co-operation, founded in I989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy and Yugoslavia, now includes, among other countries, Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and even Belarus). A recent trend in Serbia has been to use the term 'western Balkans', with an emphasis on 'western'. Greeks often speak of 'Greece and the Balkans', while many Romanians prefer to see...

Programmes and achievements of the long term cooperation in geodesy and geodynamics of sixteen CEI (Central European Initiative) countries

The paper includes concise information on geodetic and geodynamic projects that are realised in international cooperation of the Central European countries in the frame of the scientific programme of the CEI WG “Science and Technology” Section C “Geodesy”. The main achievements of the first phase of the international European geodynamic project CERGOP (Central Europe Regional Geodynamics Project) are outlined. The general objectives of another CEI project UNIGRACE (Unification of Gravity Systems in Central and Eastern Europe) and the results of the 1998 campaign of absolute gravity measurements are pointed out. The programmes of activities of the Section C Working Group on Satellite Navigation Systems and actions realised by the Working Group on University Education Standards are summarised. The cooperation links between CEI WGST Section C and European Geophysical Society (EGS) and International Association of Geodesy (IAG) are shortly discussed.

Activities of the Astro-geodetic Observatory in Jozefoslaw in the frame of IGS and EUREF

The Astrogeodetic Observatory of the Institute of Geodesy and Geodetic Astronomy of the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) in Jozefoslaw was incorporated in 1957. In 1991 it joined the International GPS Service (IGS) and started to operate as a permanent in 1993. Since then the following permanent services have been maintained: GPS observations using Trimble and Turbo Rogue receivers, tidal gravimetric observations with LaCoste&Romberg model D gravimeter and meteorological observations. Since 1995 WUT Local Analysis Centre, one of the 11 Local Analysis Centres acting in Europe, has started the systematic day-to-day processing of a selected number of European sites in the frame of the EUREF network. It also processes national and international GPS campaigns (CEGRN, EXTENDED SAGET etc.), models ionosphere and troposphere, computes tidal components and changes of the vertical according to astrometrical and gravimetric measurements. For the last 4 years the Centre has processed and analysed a lot of scientific enterprises carried out within the confines of the Central European Initiative (CEI). This paper presents the current state of the art of the Observatory's activities. It deals with the acting of it and participating of the WUT Local Analysis Centre in the international scientific projects.

Economic Integration between the European Union and the Transition Economies of Central European Initiative Countries

In this article we examine the main factors influencing trade and FDI flows between the transition countries of the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the EU member states. We distinguish three groups of CEI countries, according to the degree of trade and FDI integration with the EU: the 'fast mover' countries, the 'next tier' countries and the 'slow movers'. By estimating a number of trade and FDI equations we were able to locate the significance of alternative variables which affect the flows of trade between the CEI countries and the EU. According to our results, the low volume of trade and FDI between the 'next tier' and 'slow movers' of the CEI region, on one hand, and the EU, on the other, is a reflection of the fact that these particular countries have not yet achieved adequate institutional and economic reform while, at the same time, privatisation has not progressed as much.

Economic Integration between the European Union and the Transition Economies of Central European Initiative Countries

Economic Integration between the European Union and the Transition Economies of Central European Initiative Countries

Tourism marketing of C.E.I. countries - possibilities of cooperation in health tourism

Central European Initiative as an international regional association includes fifteen member countries. Interests in cooperation in the field of tourism can be explained by the fact that the majority of Central European countries have significant natural and cultural resources which have not yet been put to sufficient or desired use in tourism. At the beginning of 1996. the Working Group for Tourism of the C.E.I. countries conducted a research study with the aim of determining basic indicators of the level of tourism development in member countries as well as basis for developing common tourism marketing strategy. Health tourism is among the most developed tourism types; majority of the countries also associate their image with natural beauties, unpolluted environment and spas. The level of development of health tourism varies across the C.E.I. countries therefore being the basis for cooperation in various aspects, for example in research, transferring know-how in technology, and marketing (designing the product, joint promotion etc.).