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The Eastern European Group (EEG), also known as Countries with Economies in Transition (CEIT), is one of the five unofficial Regional Groups in the United Nations that act as voting blocs and negotiation forums. Regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from regional groups. The group consists of countries in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, which form the area of the former Eastern Bloc. Europe is divided between the EEG and the Western European and Others Group. The group currently has 23 members.
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History
Prior to the creation of the Regional Groups in 1966, the UNSC had an Eastern European and Asian Seat, that was taken between 1946 and 1966 by countries from Eastern Europe (including Greece and Turkey, members of the modern Western European and Others Group (WEOG)) and Asia (members of the modern Asia-Pacific Group). The Eastern European Group exists since 1966. It has changed significantly due to the dissolution of some of its members. These dissolutions are those of the Soviet Union (1991), Yugoslavia (1991-2006), and Czechoslovakia (1993). Also, through the German reunification, the Eastern European Group lost East Germany as its member. All the new countries created in Europe stayed in the bloc, and the Central Asian post-Soviet states joined the Asia-Pacific Group.
Representation
The Eastern European Group has two seats in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC); the permanent seat of Russia, and one elected seat, currently held by Lithuania. The Group further has 6 seats on the United Nations Economic and Social Council and 6 seats on the United Nations Human Rights Council. It is also eligible for having its nationals elected as President of the United Nations General Assembly in years ending with 2 and 7; most recently, Vuk Jeremić of Serbia was elected to this position in June 2012 and was the office holder of the Sixty-seventh session.
List of presidents of the United Nations Security Council
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Timeline of membership
As the Eastern European Group changed significantly over time, the number of its members had also changed.