Media blamed for Eastern Europe panic[fr][de] 

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek, who currently holds the rotating EU presidency, said reports of impending economic catastrophe in Eastern Europe are part of a "virtual debate" created by the media, which in his words bears no relation to reality. 

Topolánek shrugged off reports of Eastern Europe's increasingly dire economic situation, speaking of "considerable progress" that has been made and "very good" prospects for continued sustainable growth. 

He added that the way the financial crisis has affected individual EU member states is the result of their policies, rather than their location in the east or west of the continent. 

These views seem to have been shared by several Eastern European delegations at the summit. Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev said the issue was discussed during the meeting. He blamed Western media for its bleak depiction of Eastern Europe as a whole, instead of painting a more nuanced picture. 

"Some leading media depict Central and Eastern Europe as a whole. In the same context, you find Ukraine, the EU members from Central and Eastern Europe, Serbia, other Balkan countries […] Each case is different. The situation is quite different for every country," Stanishev said. 

Indeed, the situation in Ukraine, where steel and chemical factories are dismissing thousands of workers and economists speak of a government default, bears no comparison to East European EU members. 

The Bulgarian prime minister seized the opportunity to highlight the relatively sound situation of his country, which is still expected to record economic growth this year. 

"One cannot compare Bulgaria, which is a member of the EU, and macro-economically, in its public finances and banking sector, is much, much better than say Ukraine, but in the articles everything is being called 'Eastern Europe', and the investors who read this are having second thoughts. The Commission president himself said this was not acceptable," Stanishev said. 

In a recent round-up of national situations, featuring contributions from its network in Central and Eastern Europe, EurActiv saw substantial differences in the different new EU members, with each country representing a unique case (EurActiv 20/02/09). 

The Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria and especially Slovakia, the latest eurozone member, are performing relatively well, while Hungary and Latvia, which have already benefited from emergency aid from the IMF, are at the opposite end of the spectrum. 

Asked by journalists what the West could do to help East European countries, Polish EU affairs Minister Mikolaj Dowgielewicz did not hesitate to answer: 

"First of all, many media in Western Europe could stop writing about Eastern and Central Europe as a black hole, because that does not reflect the reality," Dowgielewicz said. 

However, he declined to comment whether the series of negative articles were part of a campaign. 

"I am not here to talk about conspiracy theories," he said.