Проблема концептуалізації регіону Центрально-Східної Європи в сучасних міжнародних відносинах.

The region called ‘Eastern Europe’ in Korea lies between three European seas - the Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea. In the Polish academic world, this region was called Central Europe, Central-Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Southern Europe, or several other ways, depending on time and conditions. And each of these names had justification to be called that. In this paper, the authors will focus on the use of the term ‘Central Europe’ and make the argument. Based on the research achievements of the Institute of Political Studies, the Polish Academy of Sciences, the current discourse in Polish academic world is the subject of this thesis. Numerous attempts have been made to define the concept of Central Europe in Polish literature on international relations. In this process, controversy often arose over which countries should be included in the Central European region. In this paper, while developing the thesis on Central European terminology, it was divided into four stages by period. With the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian War in 2022, the concept of ‘Central-Eastern Europe’, which was widely used in Polish academic world, began to lose its reason for existence. In the authors’ opinion, it seems logical to refer to the territory of the Three Seas Initiative as Central Europe. In other words, we conclude that it is reasonable to call Central Europe the group of 12 countries of the Three Seas Initiative, which are members of the European Union.

Abstract. Wildfire occurrence is influenced by climate, vegetation and human activities. A key challenge for understanding the risk of fires is quantifying the mediating effect of vegetation on fire regimes. Here, we explore the relative importance of Holocene land cover, land use, dominant functional forest type, and climate dynamics on biomass burning in temperate and boreo-nemoral regions of central and eastern Europe over the past 12 kyr. We used an extensive data set of Holocene pollen and sedimentary charcoal records, in combination with climate simulations and statistical modelling. Biomass burning was highest during the early Holocene and lowest during the mid-Holocene in all three ecoregions (Atlantic, continental and boreo-nemoral) but was more spatially variable over the past 3–4 kyr. Although climate explained a significant variance in biomass burning during the early Holocene, tree cover was consistently the highest predictor of past biomass burning over the past 8 kyr. In temperate forests, biomass burning was high at ∼45 % tree cover and decreased to a minimum at between 60 % and 70 % tree cover. In needleleaf-dominated forests, biomass burning was highest at ∼ 60 %–65 % tree cover and steeply declined at >65 % tree cover. Biomass burning also increased when arable lands and grasslands reached ∼ 15 %–20 %, although this relationship was variable depending on land use practice via ignition sources, fuel type and quantities. Higher tree cover reduced the amount of solar radiation reaching the forest floor and could provide moister, more wind-protected microclimates underneath canopies, thereby decreasing fuel flammability. Tree cover at which biomass burning increased appears to be driven by warmer and drier summer conditions during the early Holocene and by increasing human influence on land cover during the late Holocene. We suggest that long-term fire hazard may be effectively reduced through land cover management, given that land cover has controlled fire regimes under the dynamic climates of the Holocene.

The term 'populism' is used to describe specific forms and techniques employed in contemporary political rhetoric and action. The term has experienced a significant increase in usage over the past few decades, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, but also in other regions such as Brazil and the United States. Given the extensive use of the term, this paper initially examines the various interpretations of populism. In the second part of the paper, an attempt will be made to elucidate the specific historical, social and cultural circumstances and heritages of the region of Central and Eastern Europe. It is hoped that this will facilitate a deeper understanding of why the concept of populism, as defined by Ernesto Laclau, is a useful lens through which to view and interpret populism in this particular region. Finally, some sociotheological aspects of the phenomenon of populism will be investigated.

Cultural and social cooperation among nations lived in East and Central Europe has been sprung up over many centuries. In the 20th century, the nations of the part of Europe were subjected to an attempt to standardize their national cultures by means of introducing the socialist realistic culture. At present the message of cultural cooperation is social and cultural integration. Relations between Poland and Lithuania can be an example for development of cooperation among the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe on the state and regional levels, as well as example for educational institutions and economic associations, the connected relations may become germs of cooperation and good-neighbourly relationship as well as in the perspective of social development of the region among the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Adriatic Sea.

The chapter aims to contribute to a better and more nuanced understanding of citizenship practices in peripheral regions of Central and Eastern Europe, taking into account local specificities of European Parliament elections and the voices of young people. It is based on a quantitative analysis of voter turnout data and a qualitative analysis of original material collected in focus groups by the Leipzig Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on the European Union and Its Rural Peripheries in East Central Europe, and it uses a new index of peripherality. For the 2019 European Parliament elections, the chapter examines whether a particular pattern of turnout can be discerned in peripheral areas (NUTS 3 regions) in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania. It then analyses how the next generation of potential voters in peripheral regions view the European elections and what tools they suggest to increase turnout. Finally, recommendations are made for future research on participation and education in the context of European elections in East Central Europe.

Introduction: The study aims to analyze the potential relationships between climate change, renewable energy development, and the intensification of drought phenomena in industrial regions of Central and Eastern Europe, in order to develop an integrated strategy to prevent negative climate impacts.Methods: Meteorological data for the period 1990-2025 were analyzed using ERA5 and MERRA-2 reanalysis. Statistical methods were applied to detect trends in climate indicators and their possible correlation with energy infrastructure development. Numerical modeling of atmospheric circulation was performed using the WRF model, including uncertainty analysis and validation of parameterizations for regional conditions.Results: A tendency toward decreasing precipitation in continental regions of Central and Eastern Europe was detected. Analysis of literature sources shows that large-scale wind farms can potentially influence local meteorological conditions; however, their impact on regional climate remains the subject of scientific discussion. Modeling suggests that optimizing the spatial distribution of energy infrastructure can reduce potential impacts on atmospheric circulation, although the causal relationship requires further research.Conclusions: Based on the research results, an integrated strategy for climate change adaptation and drought phenomena was proposed, which includes optimizing the spatial distribution of energy infrastructure, diversifying renewable energy sources, and developing water resource protection systems.

For most regions of Central and Eastern Europe there has been a noticeable decline in population in recent years. The purpose of this article is to analyse the level of economic and social indicators as well as changes in population size between 2008 and 2019 in the regions of Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, the article attempts to answer the question of how the change in selected economic and social indicators impacts the change in population size. The answer to the above question will be provided with the use of the ratio analysis and thesoft model. The research results show that the two causes of changes in population size (natural causes and migrations) are significantly affected by a group of social indicators, even though—with regard to migration—the significance of economic indicators is increasing and the difference between the former and the latter is not substantial. Consequently, in response to the depopulation process, more attention should be paid to the social dimension of development. In other words, creating proper conditions for personal and professional activity may be more important than using financial instruments.

The Limits of the European Union's Transformative Power: Pathologies of Europeanization and Rule of Law Reform in Central and Eastern Europe

In Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe a substantial share of bank deposits are denominated in foreign currency. Deposit euroization poses key challenges for monetary policy and financial sector supervision. On the one hand, it limits the effectiveness of monetary policy interventions. On the other hand, it increases financial sector fragility by exposing banks to currency risk or currency-induced credit risk. Policymakers disagree on whether countries in the region should tackle deposit euroization with ‘dedollarization’ policies or should rather strive to adopt the Euro as their legal tender. Assessing the potential effectiveness of ‘dedollarization’ policies requires a clear understanding of which households hold foreign currency deposits and why they do so. On the basis of survey data covering 16,375 households in ten countries in 2011 and 2012, we provide a comprehensive household-level analysis of deposit euroization in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. We examine how households’ preferences for, and holding of, foreign currency deposits are related to individual expectations about monetary conditions and network effects. We also examine to what extent monetary expectations and deposit euroization are the legacy of past financial crises or the outflow of current policies and institutions in the region. Our findings suggest that deposit euroization in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe can be partly tackled by prudent monetary and economic decisions by today’s policymakers. The preferences of households for Euro deposits are partly driven by their distrust in the stability of their domestic currency, which in turn is related to their assessment of current policies and institutions. However, our findings also suggest that a stable monetary policy may not be sufficient to deal with the hysteresis of deposit euroization across the region. First, we confirm that the holding of foreign currency deposits has become a ‘habit’ in the region. Second, we find that deposit euroization is still strongly influenced by households’ experiences of financial crises in the 1990s. Our findings question the effectiveness of supply side interventions (e.g. bank regulation) or demand side interventions (e.g. local currency capital market development) in de-euroizing household savings. First, we show that deposit euroization is largely demand driven. Second, we show that households already have access to a broad range of savings products in local currency.

Hydatidosis (also known as echinococcosis or hydatid disease) is one of Europe’s neglected infections of poverty. Cystic echinococcosis (CE) is endemic in Southwestern and Eastern parts of Europe. Although alveolar echinococcosis was considered a rare disease in Central Europe, recent studies have shown its emerging nature and demonstrated that the endemic areas for this parasite are broader than previously thought. This chapter aims not only to review but also to bring to light new epidemiological and clinical data regarding hydatidosis of the central nervous system (CNS) in the countries of Eastern and Central Europe where information was available. At the same time, we intend to shed light on particular or interesting cases reported in the literature. Special emphasis will be given to the casuistic from Romania, listed in 1995 among the countries with the highest prevalence of CE worldwide and where, in the past, at least one person from 45.5 % of its localities underwent surgery for CE. Although rare in Central and Eastern Europe, hydatidosis of the CNS should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of any patient with seizures, focal neurological deficits, and symptoms of increased intracranial pressure, especially when that person comes from regions with high disease prevalence.

The region of Central and Eastern Europe covers many of the European nations east of Germany. The dominant nation of the region is Russia. Between Russia and Germany there are, first, a number of small nations composing the region known as Central Europe (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia); second, the nations which formed the western part of the Soviet Union; and, third, the states on the Balkan peninsula. This article shows the rich history of comparative law before the installment of communist regimes, such as the era of Stalin, and then discusses comparative law under communism and the role and status of comparative law after the fall of communist rule.

Unscheduled power flows are a serious problem for the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. One method of reducing these undesirable flows relies on the use of phase shifting transformers (PSTs). This paper presents how the installation of PSTs on the Polish-German and Czech-German borders affects cross-border power flows in the CEE region, as well as interactions between these devices. The essential parameters proposed for PSTs are based on the effects arising from the application of PSTs on the border between Poland and Germany. The results demonstrate that the use of PSTs in the CEE region can provide effective control of active power flows in tie-lines and significantly reduce unscheduled flows. However, the operation of these devices must be coordinated in order to achieve maximum controllability and to guarantee the secure operation of the interconnected systems.

Changes in dynamics of excess mortality rates and net survival after diagnosis of follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: comparison between European population-based data (EUROCARE-5)

Romania is a Carpathian country that experiences an increasing number of wildfire events. The production of a reliable model for the zonation of the monthly forest fire susceptibility degrees with a National scale coverage was the target of the SIAFIM project. Our approach is oriented towards the integration of complementary satellite imagery in the evaluation of forest fire susceptibility with the help of data mining techniques. A complex of ground reflectance calibrated spectral data and vegetation radiometric-biophysical indices is produced at two different scales and spectral resolutions from Sentinel-2 MSI multispectral imagery and Pleiades 1B ortho imagery from the month of August, in the region of Domogled-Valea Cernei, south western Romania. The main objective is the production and the evaluation of the representative indices from the available satellite imagery for the mapping of the forested surfaces sensitive to wildfire hazards. The analysis confirmed the reliability of some indices for the assessment of forest fire susceptibility in temperate regions of Central and Eastern Europe: LAI, SAVI, RedNDVI, Cab. Leaf Area Index (LAI) offer interesting information for the selected forest stands, between 0.06 and 0.2: pine stands on limestone steep slopes, Banat black pine stands and beech on shallow soil.

Bank Privatisation in Central and Eastern Europe Through the View of the Western European Stock Markets