Chief Editor: Dr. Chen Xin
Preface
When the new year 2021 started, most CEE countries were still struggling with the second wave of coronavirus pandemic and its containment measures. Some countries were even in face of the third pandemic wave. So far, the has exerted a great impact on both national policies and international relations. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely to measure the consequences of the coronavirus crisis in a short time.
This book is providing a brief analysis of the development outlook of Central and Eastern European countries against the backdrop of the second pandemic wave and the attendant uncertainties. The book is structured from four different perspectives on the subject: domestic politics, economic situation, social development, and external relations. Even though it’s quite difficult to predict future developments considering the uncertainties and changeability, the authors made great efforts to better understand the possible directions of developments. The book is a collection of 68 reports written by the associate researchers of the China-CEE Institute. The reports are originally from the January issue of the 2021 Weekly Briefings, a core product by the China-CEE Institute. The views in the book are represented by the individual authors instead of the China-CEE Institute.
China-CEE Institute, registered as a non-profit limited company in Budapest, Hungary, was established by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in April 2017. China-CEE Institute builds ties and strengthens partnerships with academic institutions and think tanks in Hungary, Central and Eastern European countries, as well as other parts of Europe. China-CEE Institute aims to encourage scholars and researchers to carry out joint research and field studies, to organize seminars and lecture series, to hold some training programs for younger students, and to publish academic results, etc.
I hope this book will be helpful to enrich the knowledge of how the pandemic crisis is influencing the countries in the region and how these countries will deal with their future developments while the coronavirus is still lingering around.
Prof. Dr. CHEN Xin Executive President and Managing Director, China-CEE Institute Deputy Director General, Institute of European Studies, CASS