CEE

On February 27, 2020, the Republikon Institute organized the conference Fake News in the Region – The Impact of Fake News on Central and Eastern European Countries, supported by Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom.

The Visegrád Cooperation is not nearly as united and indissoluble as the Hungarian Government wishes to present it. Member states often have conflicting interests which are pursued to the detriment of each other and cooperation.

Although the theoretical framework contains several approaches, there is consensus that establishing a division of power by mitigate the closure of the formal political system at national level leads to an open political system.

We are pleased to present the eleventh issue of 4liberty.eu Review, titled “Transformative Transformation? 30 Years of Change in CEE”. We trust that it may tact as not only a reason for reminiscing about the past, but also a pretext for further challenging ourselvs to fight for a brighter future.

Central and Eastern Europe, a home to around 190 m individuals. Each with their own hopes, dreams, and agendas. All of them with a unique set of experiences and access to their sui generis historical past. Most of them, however, shared similar routes on their way to becoming liberal democracies.

The division of the world into the first (capitalistic) world and the second (communistic) one for decades seemed very stable. If anything, Communism was often supposed – and even more often advertised – to be more efficient. Western economists were estimating when the second world will surpass the first one.

Many Westerners have seen the break-up of the Eastern Bloc as the long-expected moment of reconnection with the countries of Central Europe. Formerly, in the interwar years, these states formed a crucial part of the order within the region.

After thirty years since the fall of Communism in Europe, Ukraine remains a country with unfinished institutional reforms and significant barriers for business and trade. The country gained independence when the Soviet Union dissolved two years later – in 1991.

In order to understand it, let us take a tour through time and space, to examine the key aspects of this part of the Hungarian history – including foreign policy, democratic institutions, education, business, economy, freedom of the press, religion, and tolerance.

The democratic transition in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at the very end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s resulted in essential social changes. After the fall of Communism, certainty has disappeared from the everyday life of ordinary people.