ICE - special | All stories

Poland saw political upheaval this week with the departure from the government of Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Zyta Gilowska. She was dismissed over allegations that she failed to reveal her ties with communist era secret services. Opinion polls indicate almost 50% of Poles are unhappy with the finance minister's sacking. Zyta Gilowska's departure is a blow to the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party and has given financial markets cause for concern. More from Agnieszka Bielawska:

Slovenia has been ranked as the top performer among eight Central and East European countries which joined the European Union just over two years ago. The index of performance as an EU member state is put out by the World Economy Institute in Hungary. It ranks Slovakia and Poland towards the bottom of the ladder. Sandor Laczko of Radio Budapest spoke to the senior researcher at the Institute, Krisztina Vida:

In recent years Slovenia's music scene has become more diverse and international. In fact it's flourishing. Whether it's ethno, rock'n roll, quality pop or jazz - Slovenian musicians are finding success at home and abroad. Ksenija Samardzija Matul spoke to Jazz musician Jure Pukl about his experience and the Slovenian jazz scene:

The Czech Republic regularly criticizes human rights abuses in places like Cuba and Belarus. However the Czechs now find themselves the subject of criticism: the United States says some North Koreans in the Czech Republic are being exploited by Czech employers - in tandem with the North Korean embassy - and are forced to work in slave-like conditions.

Travel through Slovakia and you can't help but notice them dotted around the countryside - castles. Most of them are only ruins, reminders of a great past, and now many of them are for sale. The Slovak Institute of Monuments, a government agency administering the national heritage decided it would be a good idea to allow owners to turn their stones into money. Anca Dragu reports:

Czech landlords are celebrating Monday's verdict at the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that Poland's system of rent control violated the rights of Polish property owner Maria Hutten-Czapska. The Court ordered the Polish state to pay her 50,000 euros in compensation, after agreeing that the state-controlled rent in her property was so low she couldn't afford to maintain the building. Czech property owners have themselves filed some 3,000 complaints with the Court, in a legal campaign co-ordinated by the Prague-based Movement for the

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, UNHCR, organised a very special concert to mark World Refugee Day on Tuesday, June 20th. The Dutch RABASA group from Cape Verde played world music in an open air concert on Budapest's Bakats square to an audience that included refugees.

Summer is festival season across Central Europe with the warm days and nights bringing people out to hear music and experience performance and art. In Slovenia, it's time for the traditional Ljubljana Summer festival. Ksenija Samardzija Matul has more:

No loud cheering or hasty comments to the media, but rather cautious celebrations behind closed doors, that is how Smer - Slovakia's Social Democrats - marked their victory in the general election that took place last weekend. Gaining nearly 30 percent of the votes, Smer has 50 seats in the new Parliament. To be able to form a new government the party needs over half of the parliamentary seats, and so right after receiving a mandate from the President to form a new cabinet Smer began a week of meetings and negotiations with fellow parties that

For two consecutive years there's been a ban on a gay pride march in the Polish capital Warsaw. But this year's event, called the Equality Parade, was finally allowed to go ahead. It attracted German and Swedish politicians, who had supported the initiative. But the event remains controversial with Poland's conservative authorities. This report by Gabriel Stille: