Despite the fact that a short-lived character is to a certain extent peculiar to the word "initiative", for the experts, which have to deal with European affairs, the term 'Central European Initiative' (CEI) means much more than just a one-shot action. The very creation of it in 1989 took place on the edge of the two epochs: the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new era for Europe, when the formation of the New or Greater Europe which included not only the Western but also the Central-Eastern Europe (CEE) was launched.

The understanding of inevitability and necessity of the eastward enlargement made the leaders of the states-members of the European Union take the decision on founding a subregional forum in Central Europe, which was intended to adapt the countries of the former Communist bloc to the conditions of market environment and to prepare the CEE countries to joining the EU. Since that time the number of the states-parties to CEI had grown from four countries (Italy, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia) to sixteen: Austria, Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Ukraine, Croatia, the Czech Republic.

Rather original and heterogeneous according to many basic parameters, the contents of the CEI gives rise to many questions as for the effectiveness and viability of such a mechanism of cooperation. In this regard, it is necessary to stress that the Initiative is an instrument of introduction of regional projects in various spheres, not a universal organization or alignment based on political motives.

The regulations of the CEI envisage annual autumn meetings of heads of governments of the states-parties. Each spring the meetings of the ministers for foreign affairs aimed at discussing the current issues are conducted. 18 working groups of the CEI are acting in the following spheres: power engineering, transport, environment, agriculture, small and medium-size entrepreneurship, civil defense, telecommunications, science and technologies, statistics, culture, mass media, tourism, national minorities, migration and organized crimes control and illegal transportation of drugs and dangerous materials, youth contacts, free time education, the issues of recreation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia, introduction of the program CEI-2010 being implemented together with the EU.

The Initiative bases itself upon the EU. Either means from EU's budget is allotted and the CEI mechanism starts functioning for realization of this or that project, or the idea fails to find EU's support and the project remains unrealized.

It is necessary to mention the Committee of National Coordinators (CNC) which hold occasional meetings.

The opening of the permanent Information and Documentation Centre (IDC) in the city of Triest (Italy) in February, 1996 became a significant event for the further strengthening of the CEI. IDC's functions include rendering information services to the states-parties to the CEI and associate members on a wide spectrum of issues the Initiative is concentrated at, and providing information concerning the states-parties. The fact of creation and functioning of the IDC gives grounds to affirm that the states-parties to the Initiative possesses an agency for formation of a structure which will be able to play a consultative role in developing certain common approaches to solving the current problems of the organization. We could forecast a more clear format of Centre's activities as a secretariat of the CEI, though this forecast may fail to come into being.

In 1996 the governing body of the CEI was founded. It consists of three countries: the present leader, the previous leader and the next leader. The minister for foreign affairs of a leading state is the executive Head of the Initiative. In 1997 the Three of the CEI were Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina being the leader. Croatia is going to be the leading state in 1998.

The year of 1996 became to a great extent crucial for the CEI. Both the purposes and instruments of CEI's activities were little known not only in Ukraine but also in Europe as a whole until the mid-90s. The significant increase of the CEI at the expence of the countries with the transition status made the leaders of the states-parties to the CEI carry out a decisive review of the original mechnisms of the activities. First of all a critical review of the activities of the working groups was made (the meeting of heads of states and governments of the CEI members in the Austrian city of Grats, in November, 1996). The national coordinators were assigned the task to give proposals concerninng reduction of the groups which had turned out to be inexpedient.

For Ukraine, which was admitted to the CEI on June 1,1996, the membership in the Initiative means much more than just staying within one of the dozens of organizations to which it is an equal party. The membership in the CEI should be regarded, first of all, from the point of view of the orientation of the present-day Ukrainian leadership at the recreation of Ukraine as an influential European state. In any case, Ukraine's declarations concerning its striving for integration into European and Transatlantic structures and institutions coincide with its concrete activities. As mentioned, the efforts of the CEI are first of all concentrated at the implementation of subregional projects in various branches of economy, communications, environmental protection; CEI is concerned with the problems of international crime control etc. In this very light one should regard the interest of Ukrainian governmental institutions to participation in the CEI activities.

The process of cooperation with the CEI involves a lot of ministries and state agencies of Ukraine which carried out joint measures with their colleagues from the states-parties within the framework of Initiative's working groups. Among them there were the ministries of power engineering, transport, environmental protection and nuclear safety, foreign economic relations and trade, science and technology, emergency situations, agriculture, culture, education, the state committees for communications, statistics, publishing, nationalities and migration, broadcasting, tourism, the Academy of Sciences, the National Space Agency, and the "Ukravtodor" state corporation. Their plans are coordinated with the Complex Plan of the Ukraine-CEI Cooperation. Activities of the Ukrainian ministries and state agencies are coordinated by the Interdepartmental Ukraine-CEI Cooperation Committee headed by one of the deputy ministers for foreign affairs of Ukraine. The first practical contacts of the Ukrainian governmental officials with their partners within the CEI, in particular, getting acquainted with more than 100 projects worked out within the CEI in 1996, - all this made the members of the Interdepartmental Committee make proposals concerning redrafting the Complex Plan of the Ukraine-CEI Cooperation which was adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers in May, 1997.

To give a real evaluation to the expedience for Ukraine to increase the range of activities within this alignment and to what the practical benefit for Ukraine from the participation in the Initiative shall be, one should pay attention to concrete documents and decisions worked out within the framework of the Initiative. The matter is that the intensity of contacts of the state officials with their foreign colleagues not always has positive consequences and concrete results.

The year of 1997 was marked with a certain activization of CEI's activities and Ukraine's participation in it. Delegations of Ukraine took part in and brought their ideas and suggestions to practically all the forums which took place within the CEI. For Ukraine which is neither member, nor associate member of the EU, the participation in the activities of this subregional organization should be regarded as a kind of preparation to acquiring the status of a EU member - the aim defined as a strategic task of Ukraine's foreign policy. Indeed, resolution of all the problems set forth in the agenda of the meetings within the framework of the CEI at all stages - from development to official discussion and further realization - give a practical opportunity to master the methods of joint work-out of mutually profitable or at least compromise decisions and important issues of economic and political cooperation.

Three important forums took place within the framework of CEI in 1997.

A sitting of the ministers for foreign affairs of the states-parties to the CEI took place in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in June. Along with solving the current questions, the Ukrainian party availed itself of the opportunity to enlist the support of the candidature of Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Hennady Udovenko to the post of Head of the 52nd session of the UN General Assembly by the countries of the region. And the goal was achieved. Udovenko's candidature was supported by practically all the states-parties to the CEI that made the Ukrainian representative elected to the post, for the first time since creation of the UN.

Among initiatives proposed by Ukraine for the consideration of the CEI we should point out the one on carrying a round-table talk within the framework of the Pact on Stability in Europe which could involve the representatives of the EU and Council of Europe. The aim of such an action is launching a process which would strengthen the provisions of the Pact through concluding documents on friendship and neighbor relations between the members of the Initiative, emphasizing thereby the principle of inviolability of borders between the states of the region. Such an achievement could essentially improve the situation within the region which is going to survive the consequences of the Communist system collapse, disintegration and creation of states, and obvious and hidden interethnic conflicts for a long time.

The importance of the CEI at the international arena could be favored by realization of the following Ukrainian initiative: to give the Initiative the status of an observer at the UN General Assembly. According to Ukrainian diplomats, such a step could help solving subregional problems through uniting the capacities of the CEI and the United Nations, first of all - the UN Economic Committee.

The states-parties to the CEI unanimously speak for development of common approaches to the foreign and security policy. Thereby, the advisability of the states-parties' to the CEI accession to the declaration of the EU on international issues reflecting the common standpoint of the EU members, is emphasized.

The disposition to the idea of mutual supplement is peculiar to the CEI. At the meetings at all levels, the readiness to develop interaction with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Council of Europe, the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), the Council of the Baltic States is stressed.

We should mark the fact that in November 1996, the CEI fixed in its documents the necessity of a comprehensive activization of Initiative's efforts aimed at rendering assistance to Ukraine and Belarus in the measures for liquidation of the Chernobyl disaster consequences.

Still, the CEI members are paying the greatest attention not to political or global issues but to the trade and economic problems and prospective directions of improving transport communications network in the CEI region. Thus, the project of building the European transport corridor N5 - Triest-Lublyana-Budapest-Kyiv (a so called Maribor agreement), which is being actively implemented though still beyond the Ukrainian territory, captured lately a great attention of Ukrainian officials. It is clear that its realization is going to become the first significant project the implementation of which will link Ukraine to the western transport networks.

Ukraine could apply for financial assistance in these or those projects directly from the European Union. And we believe Ukraine gets certain assistance from the EU. At least, such affirmations can be heard from officials of the EU and the National Agency for Reconstruction and Development (Ukraine) responsible for the implementation of the TACIS program in Ukraine. We could keep on waiting for preferential credits and loans from international financial institutions. Though the experience testifies that this source is mostly turning to be a mirage. Meanwhile, involvement into the implementation of projects within the CEI, Ukraine might receive long-expected means for the fulfillment of really important, or even decisive programs.

One should not overestimate CEI's potential. Its solvency directly depends on EU's decisions on allotment or non-allotment of means for this or that undertaking. It is not occasional that at the meeting of the heads of governments of the states-parties to the CEI in Sarajevo (November, 1997) a joint statement of the participants was addressed to EU. But it is also not reasonable to strive for any advantages from the membership in this subregional structure. An entirely different question is whether Ukraine shall be able to use this chance. The point is that the capability of "digesting" the assistance or credits directly depends on the internal situation of the still weak Ukrainian economy. The process of overcoming this problem may be favored or vice versa - hampered - by the home-policy factors.