The global economic crisis, which has severely hit Central and Eastern Europe, does not appear to have strengthened the positions of various extremist and Eurosceptic political groups there, shows a round-up by EurActiv's network in the region.

With just ten weeks to go until the EU elections, and despite numerous problems caused by the economic recession and its associated capital outflow, the political landscape in Central and Eastern European countries depicts a stagnant if not downward trend in support for the region's extreme-right, extreme-left, nationalist and anti-European forces.

After five years of EU membership, support for Eurosceptics in Poland - the biggest EU country in Central and Eastern Europe - has noticeably fallen. In Romania, the region's second-largest country, recent elections kept the extremists out of the national parliament  (EurActiv 15/12/08).

Banking on remaining the largest group in the EU assembly after the June elections, the centre-right EPP-ED group is already delving into its pool of delegates to select the appropriate candidate to nominate for the Parliament presidency: will it be Poland's Jerzy Buzek or Italy's Mario Mauro?

Jerzy Buzek, a former Polish prime minister (1997-2001), has been unofficially lined up for almost a year as the EPP-ED's candidate for the next president of the European Parliament (EurActiv 25/04/08). But EPP-ED Group President Joseph Daul recently announced a second candidate.

"We have two candidates: Mario Mauro, who has been designated by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and Jerzy Buzek, who was nominated by Polish PM Donald Tusk," said Daul.

A multi-millionaire Conservative party donor has given £100,000 to UKIP, after becoming disillusioned with David Cameron's policies on Europe.

Spread-betting tycoon Stuart Wheeler said he was giving the money to UKIP in protest at the Tories' reluctance to talk about the EU.

Mr Wheeler, an outspoken Euro-sceptic, gave £5m to the Conservatives in 2001.

He said he would vote UKIP in European elections in June, but intended to remain a member of the Tory party.

"The European Union is doing so much damage to our economy and our way of life that I can no longer vote Conservative at the European elections," Mr Wheeler told the News of the World newspaper.