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From 2004 Poland will be the eastern gateway to the European Union. This eastern frontier is likely to be the main entry point for refugees and illegal migrants to the EU so Poland is busy modernising its border crossing facilities. But it's also trying to avoid becoming a fortress to its eastern neighbours. Danuta Szafraniec makes a trip to the Terespol border crossing point with Belarus

The standard tourist trails to central Europe usually lead to cities such as Vienna, Prague or Budapest. But the Slovak capital, Bratislava is also taking off as a new tourist destination - the number of visitors to city has risen by almost 15 percent in a couple of years. With peaceful tree-lined squares, café life, cobbled streets, Baroque architecture, castle, museums, galleries and churches, it seems Bratislava has a lot to offer despite its small size.

While governments in the West are mostly set to secular norms - divorce and abortion are mostly legal and gay marriages are becoming more frequent - the legal character of Central Europe's future EU members is still up for grabs. With this in mind, the Pope is expected to rally Slovaks and the rest of the region's Catholic faithful to defend their "authentic Christian" values - Vatican shorthand for upholding the traditional concepts of marriage and sexuality. Martina Grenova has more.

A debate has arisen in Slovenia over granting dual citizenship to the country's Hungarian minority. Some years ago, Hungary said it would allow dual citizenship for Hungarians living as minorities in the neighbouring countries and passed a special law. By the way that law does not apply to Austria. Jasmina Ferk from Radio Slovenia international reports that dual citizenship is an issue in a number of Central and SE Europe states.

Police in the Czech Republic began a nationwide campaign recently aimed at reducing the number of deaths and injuries on the nation's roads. More than 1,300 people died in car accidents last year, and the figures for this year are likely to be even higher. According to some statistics, the Czech Republic has the fourth most dangerous roads in Europe: only in Poland, Greece and Portugal are the death rates higher. So why is the situation so bad, and are the authorities doing anything about it? Radio Prague's Rob Cameron reports.

Russian prime minister Mihail Kasyanov concluded a two-day visit to Budapest earlier this week. The visit was important not just to normalise bilateral relations, which had turned sour during the tenure of the previous government, but also to boost economic and trade relations between Hungary and Russia. Agi Varga of Radio Budapest has the following report:

Poland's millions of small undeveloped farms have often been seen as a drawback as the country prepares to join the EU. But now some of those rustic cottages and horse drawn wagons are finding a new row to hoe. They're providing stressed out Western Europeans with a break from their own overdeveloped landscapes. Bogdan Zaryn reports.

A couple of weeks ago we reported on plans by a group in Germany to build a centre marking the fate of millions of people - mostly ethnic Germans - who were expelled from their homes in East and Central Europe at the end of World War Two. Now Poland's Parliament is appealing for that not to go ahead in Berlin and both German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller say any memorial must have a broad European perspective. Mihal Zions reports.

The Liptov region is a cradle of Slovak national identity. Dancing, bryndza cheese and fujara, a long wooden pipe-like musical instrument, are what Slovaks in Liptov will offer visitors. But many travellers are now discovering another attraction of the region - the Saint Cross wooden church. Martina Grenova dropped in for a look....

A group of 15 members and soon-to-be members of the European Union met in Prague on Monday, for informal talks on the future of Europe. The club of "like-minded" nations - from Portugal on the Atlantic to Estonia on the Baltic - had been summoned to the Czech capital to discuss ways of tinkering with the draft EU Constitution - a document many of them believe is weighted too much in favour of the EU's big boys. Radio Prague's Rob Cameron reports.