PM of Slovakia, Robert Fico, speaks to BACEE

When the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE) was wound up in 2008 it was agreed that the name would live on through a series of high-profile lectures organized with UCL's School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (SSEES).

The event took some time to arrange but in November 2009 the first BACEE/SSEES talk was given by the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico and I took the morning off work to attend.

The original impressions were not encouraging through my western eyes as Robert Fico looks like you would expect a former Easter European Communist (or a Bond villain) to look with his square features, drab suit and bland tie.

But appearances can often be deceptive and in the case they most definitely were as he delivered a very engaging and informative talk that looked back on the successes and failures of the twenty years since the Velvet Revolution.

He claimed democracy and human rights as successes but admitted that the economy and standards of living had not done as well. For example, the average wage in the last year of Communism (1989) was not reached again until 2007.

The root cause for the problems currently faced by Slovakia (and, presumably, similar countries) is that when the Communists were overthrown the only people in a position to take over where those who already had wealth and power. This clique then disposed of state assets to themselves.

The talk covered a wide range of subjects which were presented in a refreshing open and frank way; no sign here of the empty media-trained spin that we are force-fed in the UK.

Fico was equally honest and forthright in dealing with audience questions at the end, two of which resonated with the current situation in the UK; funding and standards in university education and integration of minorities. He made the good point that minorities should learn Slovak (in addition to their own language) not to become Slovaks but in order to work better with the Slovak authorities and political systems in the cause of their community.

Overall Fico impressed me immensely and I felt that he gave a very honest account of the situation in Slovakia today.

It is still a great shame (and a mistake by this government) that BACEE no longer exists as an organisation but it is good that their reputation helped to secure such a prestigious lecture. I expect I'll be taking holiday to catch the next one too.

Balkan Wars Film Festival

Geographically, the area of the world that I am most interested in is Central and Eastern Europe which, in my definition, stretches from the Czech Republic to Russia.

I have been to most of these countries on holiday or for work and hope to plug the missing gaps (e.g. Albania and Macedonia) before to long.

I am also a member of the British Czech and Slovak Association (BCSA) and was a member of the much missed British Association of Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE).

Therefore I was bound to be interested in the Balkan Wars Film Festival held at Roehampton University, which is just the other side of Richmond Park from me.

The film showings are timed to suit the students but I was able to get there to see No Man's Land, which won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2002.

This black comedy is about the futility and absurdity of the Serb/Bosnian war. Three soldiers from opposing armies find themselves trapped in a trench between the two front lines with a mine which is about to blow them all up. The presence of the UN and media does not help.

At one level it is a laugh-out-loud comedy and on another it is a subtle comedy. I loved the play on racial stereotypes with the French UN soldiers asking everybody if they speak French before being forced to use English, the German mine experts who arrives exactly on time and the hopelessly out of touch English commander who his behind regulations to avoid making decisions.

The film has a very dark side too - two of the main protagonists are killed and the third is abandoned to a certain death in the trench (he's sitting on a mine that will go off if he moves).

And, of course, the war itself provides a dark backdrop to the whole film. We see peasant soldiers fighting each other without really understanding what the war is about or who started it.

The most depressing thing for me about the film is how little we have learnt, or changed our behaviour, since then and many of the characteristics of this war can also be seen in places like Somalia, Congo, Georgia, ...

The last ever BACEE meeting

On Tuesday evening I attended an Extraordinary General Meeting of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE) which was called to agree the closure of the company following the withdrawal of grants by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Friends in high-places have failed to reverse the decision, as have debates in parliament and articles in the national press, so now it is over.

If there are any glimmers of hope they come from the agreement with UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES) to hold an annual lecture under the BACEE banner and to maintain the BACEE archive so that researchers have access to it.

And any quick review of the news in Europe (e.g. Russia threatening to point missiles at Poland, Czech Republic and Ukraine) shows that there is the need for somebody to do the work that BACEE did so well.

Forty years of good work by BACEE

I have been a member of the British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE) for a few years and have enjoyed their lectures and been impressed by their work in helping the less developed European countries in developing their capability in areas like commerce, justice, and independent media.

Sadly, after forty years, this work has had to be put on hold as the funding from the FCO has been cut and then removed. The FCO now has other priorities globally and seems to think that the job in Europe has been done - not that today's news from Georgia supports this!

BACEE will stay alive in some form, ready to flourish again when needed, and this break will also provide the opportunity to trawl the archives to find material to produce some worthy documents on BACEE's history.

Hopefully I will have more to say on BACEE before too long.

British Association for Central and Eastern Europe

The British Association for Central and Eastern Europe (BACEE) works to promote a closer understanding between the British people and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and to support the institutions of a civil society that are a fundamental requirement if the ambition of EU membership of many of those states is to be fulfilled.

It does this by means of seminars, study visits, conferences and round tables designed to share the British experience of democratic systems and to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and experience across the borders of countries within the region.

My interest in Central and Eastern Europe has grown out of my original interest in Czechoslovakia from the time when I lived and worked there. I joined BACEE a couple of years ago because they run a series of interesting talks at the offices off Victoria.

The most recent talk was, 'The City and Central Europe' by Sir Gavyn Arthur. Sir Gavyn was Lord Mayor of London in 2002-03. He was called to the Bar, Middle Temple in 1975, practiced as a barrister from 1977 and has been a Recorder since 2002. Among his many interests he is a member of the Anglo-Austrian Society, the British Ukrainian Law Society and the Three Faiths Forum.

The main points that I took from the talk were that the city has circa 4 trillion dollars to invest a year but the demand for investment far outstrips supply so investors have plenty of choice on where to place their money. A key factor in their choice is the commercial standing of the country (degree of corruption and bureaucracy etc.) and the judiciary plays a key role in ensuring that commercial operations function fairly.

A convincing argument well put by Sir Gavyn who also illustrated his talk with many anecdotes from his work in Central and Eastern Europe. An entertaining and an instructive talk; who could ask for more?