About us

The European Center for Ethnic Studies (CESPE) is a research institute affiliated to the Romanian Academy. CESPE was founded in 1991 by Government Decision (G.D. No. 677/1991).

The Center’s activities see to identify the main problems to which national minorities in Romania are confronted. They also concentrate on the situation of the Romanian communities outside Romania’s borders. Both issues are considered form the perspective of the European policies regarding minorities.

Most of the Center’s studies concentrate on the socio-cultural dimension of ethnic minorities’ profile, which we consider to be a crucial dimension in the process of building the European identity.

CESPE activelly participates in promoting and preserving the cultural identity of the communities mentioned above. The Center will follow this objective by elaborating anthropological, sociological, demographic and ethnographic researches that cover aspects such as cultural identity, rights and freedom of the minorities. We are also interested in studying the quality of life in mixt communities.