The Initiative Pro Mitteleuropa - Middleeuropean Initiative (in short "IPM") is an international

Think Tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

, based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. President of IPM is Philipp Depisch from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

History

The foundation took place in Vienna on Nov. 20th 2010. On January 12, 2012, IPM was a co-organizer of an international forum in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, which was attended by representatives from 14 states. From August 23 to August 25, 2013, IPM International and IPM Slovenia conducted the first "local event" of

YEPP Yepp was Samsung Electronics' digital audio player brand until Samsung decided to retire most of their family brands in February 2011. From then on, their MP3 players were simply branded "Samsung" worldwide until they discontinued all of them i ...

together with the "Youth of the Slovenian Democratic Party" (SDM) in Ptuj/

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. There the participants from

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

discussed the topic of youth employment. IPM again co-hosted a large international conference on July 2, 2014, in Vienna. 110 guests from 16 nations discussed the issue of "European energy policy". IPM completed its focus on "Energy" in 2014 with a conference in

Fürstenfeld Fürstenfeld (; hu, Fölöstöm) is a town and a district in southeastern Austria. It is situated within the Austrian federal state of Styria, near the border of Hungary. According to the 2005 census, Fürstenfeld has 5,986 citizens within its c ...

/Austria on Oct. 10th. The conference was preceded by an article of Austria's second largest newspaper

Kleine Zeitung ''Kleine Zeitung'' (, ''Small Newspaper'') is an Austrian newspaper based in Graz and Klagenfurt. As the largest regional newspaper in Austria, covering the federal states Styria and Carinthia with East Tyrol, the paper has around 800,000 readers ...

, introducing IPM and its president. On April 23, 2016, IPM celebrated its five-year anniversary in

Klosterneuburg Klosterneuburg (; frequently abbreviated as Kloburg by locals) is a town in Tulln District in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It has a population of about 27,500. The Klosterneuburg Monastery, which was established in 1114 and soon after gi ...

together with Johannes Schmuckenschlager, president of the Austrian winegrower federation. Together with ''DEMYC'' the Middleeuropean Initiative conducted an international congress on "Migration - Challenges and Opportunities" in July 2016 in Graz/Austria including almost 70 participants from 20 different countries (among others

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

, Irak,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). During this congress both organisations adopted a joint resolution against a possible membership of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. General meeting and elections again took place on March 11, 2017, in the

Austrian Parliament The Austrian Parliament (german: Österreichisches Parlament) is the bicameral federal legislature of the Austrian Republic. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene ...

. During this event the "Middle-Europe-Award" was introduced. With this IPM wants to honor special people who have gained earnings to the European peace project. A meeting with former UN secretary general

Ban Ki Moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

was the highlight of the IPM "summit" in Alpbach/Austria on August 27, 2018. Elections again took place on May 15, 2021. In March 2022 the Middleeuropean Initiative organized a transport of medicines to

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

Self-image and structure

The IPM sees itself as a "network platform", sets up environmental priorities and supports events in the fields of politics, culture and sports. The organization is based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Middle Europe Award winners

*2017:

Mikuláš Dzurinda Mikuláš Dzurinda (; born 4 February 1956) is a Slovak politician who was the prime minister of Slovakia from 30 October 1998 to 4 July 2006. He is the founder and leader of the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) and then the Slovak Democratic a ...

, former prime minister of Slovakia and president of the Centre for European Studies. *2018: ''Franz Majcen'', former president of the state parliament of Styria. *2019 Boris Pahor, Slovenian/Italian writer. *2020

Thomas Goppel Thomas Goppel (born 30 April 1947 in Aschaffenburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria) is a German politician and party member of the CSU party. Goppel was member of the Landtag of Bavaria from 1974 to 2018. He is the son of the former Bavarian Minister P ...

, chairman of CSU "Seniorenunion" and former Bavarian state minister. *2021 Rainer-Bernd Wolschner, physician.

References

External links

* *{{LinkedIn page, company/18501277 Central Europe Federalism by country Think tanks based in Austria