Elisabeth-
It was hard (and very sad :-(, for my part) to sort
out the Eastern
European cities, main reasons for this decision were that there are not
enough local people to help and the difficult travel situation for
people from overseas even when the offers looked very beautiful.
There should be no reason for sadness. The criteria you listed are very
important for what is to be a world-wide meetup. However, given that the
Romanian Wikipedia in particular has put a lot of effort into this, I
think they would be a prime candidate for a "Wikimedia Eastern Europe"
meetup. Wikimedia meetups can be organized on all levels, from the very
global to the very local. As Meta becomes a more visible place in the
Wikimedia community, I'm sure we will see this multi-level approach
develop further.
Regards,
Erik