ICE - special | All stories

The Ljubljana Summer Festival began this week and runs until the 18th of August. It showcases a host of talent from opera, ballet, and dance performances to symphony orchestras, jazz and cinema.

Russia has raised the possibility of moving some of its missiles to Kaliningrad. This is the small piece of Russian territory which is surrounded by European Union territory - Poland and Lithuania - and the Baltic Sea. Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov linked such a move to plans by the US to build an anti-missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russia wants the US to use Russian facilities to deal with the perceived threat of missiles from so-called rogue states. Russia has already threatened to aim missiles at Europe and the Kaliningrad suggestion

It's just over three years since what are known as the Visegrad states, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia joined the EU. Those three years have seen strong economic growth. And a new report from the Vienna based Institute for International Economics says high rates of growth will continue next year - the exception being Hungary.

The European Union has put energy security at the top of its agenda but there's little agreement on the future role of nuclear energy. Some EU states like the Czech Republic and Slovakia rely heavily on nuclear energy and see few alternatives. Others, like Austria, remain totally opposed to nuclear power. How to resolve the differences? Well the European Nuclear Energy Forum has been created to come up with some answers. It's being hosted by Prague and Bratislava.

Later this year the Czech capital Prague will launch a bid to host the Summer Games in 2016. However, there are a number of obstacles on the route to becoming an official candidate. These include calls for a referendum, property disputes about sites for Olympic buildings, questions over the budget - and ground squirrels. Ground squirrels?

Ski jumping wouldn't have reached its unprecedented popularity in Poland if it hadn't been for the successes of a single athlete - Adam Malysz. And now motor racing, a sport that, until recently didn't enjoy a high profile has became popular thanks to the spectacular career of one young man.

Democracy standards are declining in many Central European countries - according to a recent report from the US based human rights group Freedom House. In this Insight Central Europe we're focussing on two of three of those countries - Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. First to Poland which Freedom House says is becoming less tolerant of alternative life-styles, particularly of gays and lesbians.

An "intensely polarised political environment" - is how the 2007 Freedom House report describes the Hungarian situation. It says Hungary is an electoral democracy and puts the country in the top category as far as political rights and civil liberties are concerned. However, the report finds two issues, the political fight between government and opposition for power - and deep-rooted corruption - as causes for major concern and gave these as reasons for marking Hungary down on the democracy index.

On 25 June 1991, the Slovenian Assembly passed the Basic Constitutional Charter and the Declaration of Independence, declaring Slovenia an independent country. The passage of the charter followed a plebiscite in December in 1990 when 88% of all voters opted for a sovereign and independent country, which would no longer be part of Yugoslavia. To honour the events of the 25th of June each year a traditional ceremony marking Slovenia's independence is organized. But this year's main ceremony was marred by the absence of both President Janez Drnovsek

Slovakia has the fastest growing economy in central Europe, and according to Freedom House that economic growth is overshadowing democratic growth. The 'Nations in Transit' report says the Slovak media haven't changed in their democratic approach but there are disturbing trends which could lead to the press being less free. It says the media are under pressure from the current government, elected a year ago.