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The lessons learned from the crisis management of the 2008 Great Recession are due to significant structural differences between the two centers of the world, the United States and the eurozone. This has been the worst and most widespread global economic downturn since the Great Depression. The crisis is over, but it seems that the crisis has long-lasting consequences. In the case of the United States, a monetary, fiscal and political union is realized, which with a single economic policy, operates as a coherent unit, uniting the three areas. GDP is rising, unemployment is at the lowest level since 1969 and government debt is the highest it has ever been which can cause problems in the long run. In the case of the eurozone, we can talk about a monetary union. The crisis has highlighted the structural flaws of the eurozone, because without a unified fiscal policy no effective economic policy can be achieved. The symptoms of the euro area crisis weren't the consequences of the global economic crisis; rather the stalling of the integration process, the lack of real convergence, and the weaknesses of monetary and fiscal policy were the problems that have been brought to the fore and exacerbated by the crisis. I consider the crisis management of the United States to be more successful, in which the single economic policy has played an important role – as long as the eurozone doesn't deepen integration, it will not be able to address vulnerabilities between its countries. For Central Europe to be competitive, it has to have the right economic policies and an independent monetary policy. The postcrisis recovery has taken place, but in order to avoid further crises and to have a faster convergence towards the eurozone, we need targeted steps which could create the opportunities.

The education has been exceedingly affected by the economic recession, the transformed state governance and the demographic waves, so the educational system of each country underwent some changes. The aim of my research is the comparative study of the educational systems in the East-Central European region. I examined the relationships between the different qualities, historical backgrounds, reforms and I explored the relationship between the current states of the systems (Karsten & Majoor, 1994; Lannert, 1998; Knell & Srholec, 2007; Horn & Sinka, 2007; Báthory, 2008; Dienes, 2007; Kelemen, 2010; Dakowska & Harmsenbert, 2015). My research questions are the following: What were the main reforms in the transformation of education systems? What similarities can be observed in the school systems of the countries? The region I studied is a specific East-Central European region, so the countries I have chosen are Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland. In my study, I have created three groups and I present the changes in the education systems of these countries, taking into consideration economic, social and political issues (Lannert, 2004; Kozma, 2006; Barber & Moirshed, 2007; Valuch, 2009; Kelemen, 2010; Jakubowski, 2015). Analyzing the results, it can be concluded that the regime change has enabled the countries to redefine themselves and find their new status in domestic and international politics, and also in world economy. The world economy situation created same problems for the states of the region, but their resources were different, so the public spending on education, the characteristics of education management and the infrastructure characteristics of the institutions were different. Among the main results, I have identified two groups during compulsory schooling, the first group being countries that introduce compulsory schooling up to the age of 6-15 years, and the other group consists of countries introducing compulsory schooling up to the age of 16. I have examined the curriculum regulation and the textbook market, it can be stated that, as a result of the reforms, new curricula were prepared, the textbooks were adapted according to these. Examining curriculum regulation is the result of countries striving for central regulation, but it has to be emphasized that there are countries that have integrated framework curricula and / or local curricula into a single national core curriculum, thus giving the opportunity to more autonomous management. In summary it can be concluded that the history of the countries studied and the development of their educational systems evolved similarly, however, differences can be observed by examining the different educational characteristics. My theoretical research can contribute to the discovery of the situation in Hungary and to the development tendencies and trends in the region.

This paper aims to give a comprehensive picture of the objectives and perspectives behind the creation of the Central European Initiative (CEI). It also analyzes the role of CEI in the political, economic and social transition in the post-Socialist states. The article studies how CEI helped the integration of the Central European countries to the Western institutions, especially to the European Union (EU). The cooperation was founded in 1989 by Austria, Hungary, Italy, and Yugoslavia. It was unique and special in the era, as it had member states from totally different political and economic blocks. There are more approaches to explain the creation of this cooperation. According to the Liberal one, the founder states wished to create a flexible platform for the cooperation of countries from different blocks. This was also a political initiative to overcome on the divisions of bipolarity and the Cold War. The laid down political objectives in the official documents included the values represented by the European institutions. These values were adopted by the post-Socialist states. At the project level, the initiatives of CEI indirectly contributed to the economic and social transition in these countries. CEI and EU progressively built their close relations, and the support of EU integration became the mission of CEI. If we study the EU accessions in the region, we can state, CEI had a successful and important role in bringing closer the post-Socialist states to the EU.

Folgende Inhalte werden in den einzelnen Teilen der Sammlung behandelt: 1. Energie; 2. Ökonomische Ressourcen; 3. Verkehrswege; 4. Handel; 5. Politische Stabilität und künftige Wirtschaftsentwicklungen; 6. Wirtschaftspolitische Strategien; 7. Lebensraum

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