Programmes and appeal 2008-2009

Europe and central Asia: Two sets of realities demand a flexible approach

The Europe and central Asia zone (and therefore its National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) can be divided into two sets of countries: those with access to greater economic development opportunities and those that lack these opportunities either completely or to a large extent.

The 15 'established' countries of the European Union (EU) are politically, socially and economically stable. They are also generally affluent, although they face a number of challenges including issues such as migration, demographic change and pressure on the sustainability of the level of social services.

The 12 'new' EU countries, which joined either in May 2004 or January 2007, have already gone a long way towards becoming more politically, socially and economically stable – but there is still some way to go.

The three current and seven potential future EU candidate countries are at various stages of stability and transformation towards EU standards. Official candidate countries have clear formal plans of how to reach minimum standards and are in the process of putting them in place.

Some European countries – such as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland – have chosen to remain outside the EU, but can be compared with to the established EU countries in terms of their political, social and economical stability.

The Europe and central Asia zone also includes a set of countries that are presently not eligible for EU membership, i.e., the countries in the Caucasus and central Asia.

Structures and institutions in these countries are often volatile, with resulting political and social instability.

The countries of central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union republics are still undergoing a process of economic and political transformation. Unemployment and a dramatic rise in poverty and socio-economic vulnerability have been experienced by most of these societies. Institutional and social coping mechanisms have either been too weak to cope or are in the process of partial or full disintegration.

Both old and new health problems are increasing. Tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS are on the rise in eastern Europe. In other areas, there are clear signs of an increase in racial intolerance or even open xenophobia.

Europe's overall vulnerability to disasters is expected to increase over the coming years, with climate change likely to bring more frequent floods, droughts, storms, heatwaves and wildfires. Even the sustained availability of water may become an issue in some parts of the zone.

1. All figures are in thousands of Swiss francs (CHF).

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Complete document: Programmes and appeal 2008-2009 (28.7 Mb, 88 pages)	Chapter 3: Snapshots of the Red Cross Red Crescent in action in 2007 (24.2 Mb, 40 pages)	Europe and central Asia: Two sets of realities demand a flexible approach (432 Kb, 2 pages)