CEI - Central European Initiative
The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a regional organization associating 18 countries. Its main aim is to promote the development of cooperation between member countries and to assist member countries that are not members of the EU in joining the process of European integration and in facilitating their accession to the EU.
Central European Initiative
The Central European Initiative (CEI) is a regional organization associating 18 countries. Its main aim is to promote the development of cooperation between member countries and to assist member countries that are not members of the EU in joining the process of European integration and in facilitating their accession to the EU. It helps them in the process of their transformation as well as in developing regional cooperation in a number of fields. The work of the CEI is based on mutual understanding and consensus. It drafts, develops and evaluates also international projects. It works for increasing the cohesion and solidarity in Europe with the aim to prevent the creation of new dividing lines on the continent.
History
The CEI was founded in 1989 by Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Austria. In the following year it was joined by Czechoslovakia (to form the so-called pentagonal) and in 1991 by Poland. Later on, other countries of Central and South Eastern Europe joined it. When the armed conflict broke out in Yugoslavia, membership of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was suspended. All countries newly established in the territory of former Yugoslavia gradually joined the CEI. Similarly, after the division of Czechoslovakia both succession states (the Czech Republic and Slovakia) became members of the Initiative.
Member Countries
Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Belarus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia/FYROM, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine.
Structure and Organs
The CEI presidency rotates annually in the English alphabetical order of names of member countries. The Czech Republic held presidency from January 1, 1999. In 2009, the presiding country is Romania. The Executive Secretariat based in Trieste, Italy, runs routine activities of the CEI. The supreme body is the Meeting of Prime Ministers of member countries. Information and data on the work of the Central European Initiative are available in the CEI Newsletter published monthly by the CEI Executive Secretariat. CEI Newsletter and other information are available also at www.ceinet.org .