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Government leaders from nine Central and East European states including the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Austria met in the Slovenian coastal resort of Portoroz on Friday. It was the fifteenth annual gathering of the Central European Initiative (CEI).

There's nothing Poles enjoy more than a big anniversary celebration. Part of it has to do with a turbulent history - marked by wars, foreign domination and moments of triumph. And it seems that history has stamped itself on the Polish character. An opinion poll has revealed a significant majority of Poles are proud of their national origins.

A team of experts from the European Commission was in Hungary this week to visit the country's only nuclear power station at Paks, south of Budapest. Their inspection followed a number of incidents at the plant including a shut down of one of its reactors when radioactive gas leaked during the cleaning of fuel rods in April 2003. The EU experts checked the power station's emission-control system and the environmental radiation safety laboratory. Laszlo Kobinger, a senior official in the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority, says the inspection should

One of the basic rights of people living in the EU is the right to live and work in any another member country. It's something the "older" member states have become used to and take for granted. But in the new member states of Central Europe it's meant changing laws on who they allow in - to work and live. For a look at how that's affecting Slovenia, we spoke to Miha Sepec - head of the department for foreign workers in Slovenia:

The Czech Republic and Slovakia marked the 15th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution this week, when mass demonstrations forced the Communist Party to relinquish power. However many Czechs believe former Communists still exert far too much influence in public life, and there was a contemporary message to be heard during the many commemorative events.

Europeans regularly disparage the Bush administration in the US for its religious bent but some people see a revival of religion in European politics? Rocco Buttiglione - the man rejected by the European Parliament for his views on women and homosexuals says he will push for "Christian values" in Europe. And some politicians raise Europe's Christian traditions as an argument against Turkey joining the EU. The issue of Europe's spiritual identity was debated at a symposium in Vienna this week.

Marianna and Oleg Chibovskij have found an unusual way of getting rich here in Prague. They have become the Czech Republic's honey cake barons. Honey Cake or Medovnik in Czech is well known in Ukraine or Russia, and now the Czech Republic is engulfed by honey cake fever. The Chibovskijs started its production six years ago and now sell on average a staggering 20,000 cakes a month.

Central European states sent condolences to Palestinians on the death this week of their long time leader, Yasser Arafat.

Hungary's media is in a state of rapid change. One of the four national daily newspapers, Magyar Hírlap was closed down by its Swiss owner Michael Ringier just over a week ago. But 72 hours later in move unprecedented in Hungary, a new daily was on the streets - with the name "The Point-European Newspaper".

Slovenia is well known for its forest clad landscape so it was a good choice for the Conference: 'Forests - The Future for Slovenia', held in Ljubljana last week. The conference heard that Slovenia's tall trees face some challenges if they are to be sustained for the future. A joint Netherlands and Slovenia monitoring project found pollution and global warming are the greatest threats.