Central Europe

Seven countries with a total population of 100 million of the Central European region accessed the European Union in 2004-2007. The region has a significant history in science. Over 1000 users of the region may take part in the ESS project if Debrecen becomes the host town. In case ESS is established in Debrecen, in the Central European region, it will reflect a political and symbolic gesture for the new members of the Union.

Nearly 100 million inhabitants from the seven new EU member states of the Central European region would get a positive feedback from the Union if ESS were built in Debrecen.
The seven new members states of the region are:
• Bulgaria
• Czech Republic
• Poland
• Hungary
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia.

Six of the seven countries are listed among the 10 quickest developing countries of the EU, which characterizes the economies of this region. A sign of commitment for science and education in the countries of the region is that four of these countries spend over 5% of their GDP on education, and additionally the ratio of university and college graduates is vigorously growing all over the region. As regards the ratio of researchers the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary belong to the medium flight in the European Union, covering 1.1% of employees in each of the three countries.