The
Central European Initiative or
CEI http://www.ceinet.org, is a political, economical, cultural and scientific international organisation founded in 1989. It now counts 18 member states:
AlbaniaAlbania , officially the Republic of Albania , is a Mediterranean country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south-east...
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AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
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BelarusBelarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered by Russia to the north and east, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the north. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel , Mahilyow and Vitebsk...
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Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( or (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Latin: Bosna i Hercegovina; Serbian Cyrillic: Босна и Херцеговина) is a country in Southeast Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula...
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BulgariaBulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a country in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. Bulgaria borders five other countries: Romania to the north , Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south...
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CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
, the
Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic is a country in Central Europe that is sometimes considered to be Eastern European. The country borders Poland to the northeast, Germany to the west and northwest, Austria to the south and Slovakia to the east. The capital and largest city is Prague...
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HungaryHungary , in English officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in the Carpathian Basin of Central Europe, bordered by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Its capital is Budapest. Hungary is a member of OECD, NATO, EU, V4 and is a Schengen state...
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ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
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MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country in the central Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
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MoldovaMoldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south....
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MontenegroMontenegro , is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo to the east and Albania to the south...
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PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
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RomaniaRomania is a country located in Southeastern and Central Europe, North of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Almost all of the Danube Delta is located within its territory...
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SerbiaSerbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a country located in both Central and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans...
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SlovakiaThe Slovak Republic is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia borders the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south. The largest city is its capital, Bratislava...
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SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
and
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
.
Since its beginnings, the mandate of the Initiative has been to help transition countries in
CentralCentral Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
and
Eastern EuropeEastern Europe is a region lying in the Eastern part of Europe. The term is highly context-dependent and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
in their effort to integrate further with the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
(EU) and achieve a higher level of socio-economic development. In a post-enlargement context, the CEI has shifted in focus towards those Member States remaining outside the EU. As such, the countries of the Western Balkans (Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia including
KosovoKosovo is a disputed territory in the Balkans. Its majority is governed by the partially-recognised Republic of Kosovo , a self-declared independent state which has de facto control over the territory; the exceptions are some Serb enclaves...
) and the three CEI Member States part of the
European Neighbourhood PolicyThe European Neighbourhood is the region beyond the frontier of the European Union. It comprises primarily developing countries, who seek one day to become either member states of the European Union itself, or more closely integrated with the economy of the European Union.The European Union offers...
(Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine) are at present the areas where most of the CEI financial resources and technical expertise will converge.
Institutions and goals
In 1991 and 1992, the Italian government signed two Agreements with the
European Bank for Reconstruction and DevelopmentFounded in 1991, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development uses the tools of investment to help build market economies and democracies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia...
(EBRD)
http://www.ebrd.comon the establishment of a CEI Trust Fund ‘to assist the Bank’s countries of operation in Central and Eastern Europe in their economic and social transformation processes’. Between 1992 and 2007 the fund, managed by the CEI Project Secretariat (CEI-PS) at EBRD, received a total contribution of € 28 million. In December 2007 a replenishment of the fund was granted by Italy, amounting to a further € 6 million for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.
These funds have been actively utilised by the CEI-PS in order to fulfil the Initiative’s mission as an important actor in international diplomatic relations and development:
‘To assist the transformation of strategies and project ideas into bankable projects or fundable programmes, directly with project preparation and support, through business match-making of investors with financial and technical sources, and through the promotion of a favourable economic and institutional environment in CEI countries’.
In
TriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in north eastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south, east and north of the city...
, the Chambers of Commerce of the CEI member states have launched a parallel cooperation programme. On 18 June 1994 the Trieste Chamber, with the collaboration of the Italian Union of Chambers of Commerce, hosted the first Conference of CEI Chamber Presidents and on 19 April 1995 held a conference on projects for reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Funding Instruments: the CEI-Trust Fund
Through its Trust Fund at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Secretariat for CEI Projects promotes and supervises co-operation on investment projects alongside EBRD investments in a number of areas, including agriculture, transport, energy, SMEs, municipal infrastructure and services, banking, insurance, institutional and capacity building. Technical Cooperation (TC) is offered in the form of grant-type assistance in support of specific components of a project (i.e. feasibility and pre-feasibility studies, sector and environmental engineering, management training, capacity building, pre-loan audits).
By supporting the operations of the EBRD through specific TC commitments, the CEI strengthens the mandate of the Bank to foster transition towards multi-party democracies and market economies in the countries of operation. In so doing, the CEI - EBRD co-operation brings forth valuable synergies which are translated into needed assistance to the EBRD and its clients to overcome those obstacles caused by a lack of skills and legacies from the past still present in the region.
Through its Trust Fund, the CEI-PS also promotes and supervises “Development Programmes” in partnership with other IFIs and international organisations. Past examples have been the support offered to the CEI Business Advisory Service implemented by the EBRD BAS/TAM Team, and the ongoing cooperation with FAO
http://www.fao.organd OECD
http://www.oecd.org. Those partnerships specifically aim at strengthening the transfer of know-how, promoting reforms, economic transition, and finally the use and introduction of modern technologies.
Since its inception through to end-2007, the fund has funded projects for EUR 17,159,760.
Funding Instruments: The Know-how Exchange Programme
Established in 2004, the CEI Know-how Exchange Programme (KEP)
http://www.ceinet.org/main.php?pageID=164 is an instrument offering co-financing for development and technical assistance projects carried out between institutions in CEI Member States.
The KEP aims at facilitating the know-how transfer between the EU and the non-EU Member States of the CEI. Knowledge transfer of this kind is most likely to originate in the seven CEI Member States which joined the EU in May 2004 and in January 2007, since these countries have gained a specific expertise during their transformation and harmonisation process leading to EU membership. The KEP offers grants to institutions willing to share their experience with partners in non-EU countries.
Since its establishment, the Programme has found growing acceptance among CEI Member States which grew gradually more committed to sharing their experience in sectors of vital interest to EU candidate countries.
Priorities
The Know-how Exchange Programme focuses on areas where institutions in the CEI donor countries have a long-standing experience, and the beneficiary states – the strongest need for assistance. Here, capacity building remains of a crucial importance for the CEI and is still highly ranked in the CEI Plan of Action 2007-2009. It plays a central role in the priority list of the Know-how Exchange Programme where it is conceived both as strengthening of proper policy and legal frameworks as well as human resources development. The capacity building in the KEP is not limited to the central administrations but it encompasses local governments and local authorities too. A number of areas of interest have been identified and grouped into four thematic blocks. Prioritises have been elaborated taking into account also country and sector strategies of International Organisations and IFIs operating in the region (i.e. EBRD, OECD, UNECE, the World Bank and others). The areas listed below comply also with development assistance priorities of most of the CEI-EU Member States, thus enabling project promoters to combine co-financing from KEP and national sources.
Applicants
Projects can originate from all public and private sector bodies, international and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the public interest, e.g. national, regional and local authorities, education/research institutions, environmental organisations, Public-Private Partnerships, etc.
Most frequently the projects take the form of bilateral and trilateral activities undertaken between individual institutions of which one is located in a donor and the other in a beneficiary country. Multilateral projects can also be accepted and they are usually coordinated by international organisations or other institutions associating numerous CEI Member States. The latter type of projects have been successfully implemented in the past in cooperation with FAO, OECD, and the Assembly of European Regions.
Cooperation tools
The project proposals must guarantee an effective know-how transfer to a beneficiary institution. Examples of possible cooperation tools are:
• On-the-job training, secondment of staff and other training courses;
• Study tours;
• Assistance in negotiations;
• Assistance in the preparation of strategies, laws and other documents;
• Needs assessment;
• Management workshops for strategy issues;
• Assistance in establishing institutions;
• Setting up of administrative systems and computer software;
• Technology transfer for application of research and innovation.
Project financing
From 2004 to 2007, a total of EUR 356,000 was committed to KEP projects, with EUR 140,126 committed in 2007 alone. Projects supported by the CEI within the KEP scheme have reached a total of nearly EUR 1 million.
Membership
Founding members: (1989) EU (1990)
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- Czech Republic (1993) EU
- Slovakia (1993) EU (1989) EU (1989) EU (1991) EU (1989-1992)
Joined later: (1992) (1992) (1992) EU (1993) (1995) (1995) (1995) EU (1996) (1995) EU (1995) (2000) (2 August 2006)
Presidency
See also
- Central Europe
Central Europe is the region lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe. The term and widespread interest in the region itself came back into fashion after the end of the Cold War, which, along with the Iron Curtain, had divided Europe politically into East and West,...
, Southeastern Europe
- Alois Mock
Alois Mock is a politician and member of the Austrian People's Party . He was Vice Chancellor of Austria from 1987 to 1989. As foreign minister he helped take Austria into the European Union....
, Gyula HornGyula Horn is a Hungarian politician and former Prime Minister of Hungary , leading a socialist-liberal coalition....
, Erhard BusekErhard Busek is a politician from the Christian-conservative People's Party . At present he is Coordinator of the South-Eastern Cooperative Initiative and Chairman of the Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe among other things.Busek was chief of the party and Vice-Chancellor of Austria...
- Stability Pact for Southeastern Europe (SP for SEE)
- Southeast European Cooperation Process
The South East European Co-operation Process was launched on Bulgaria's initiative in 1996. At the Bulgaria-chaired meeting in Sofia, the SEE countries laid the foundations for regional co-operation for the purposes of creating an atmosphere of trust, good neighbourly relations and stability.A...
(SEECP)
- Central European Free Trade Agreement
The Central European Free Trade Agreement is a trade agreement between Non-EU countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe.-Members:...
(CEFTA)
- Southeast European Cooperative Initiative
The Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, or the SECI, has been an initiative that, under the auspices of men like Erhard Busek and Richard Schifter, has been successful in providing stability in an unstable region and has found support in international organizations and countries...
(SECI)
- Black Sea Economic Co-operation (BSEC)