Events

On November 9, the European Commission published its 2016 Progress Report on the status of the enlargement process with Turkey, including an assessment of the country’s process of political reform. The next day Patrick Paquet presented the report results at the DGAP and discussed with panelists the state of EU-Turkey relations in light of the developments after July’s attempted military coup in Turkey, the EU-Turkey Agreement on Refugees, and Turkey’s role as regional actor.

US Ambassador to Germany John B. Emerson and German Minister of Agriculture Christian Schmidt came to the DGAP the morning after the US elections to give their first impressions of the outcome. How did Trump triumph? How will he position himself on domestic and foreign policy agendas? How will President Trump differ from Candidate Trump? The speakers were joined by Daniela Schwarzer, the new director of the DGAP's Research Institute, and Josef Braml and Henning Riecke of the USA/ transatlantic relations program.

Die Annahme, dass mit einem Generationswechsel in Russland sich auch die Politik hin zu Demokratie und einer offeneren Gesellschaft entwickeln wird, ist nicht eingetreten. Vor allem die Hoffnungen, die mit der jungen Generation verbunden wurden, sind nicht eingetreten. Gleichzeitig ist das heutige Russland so pluralistisch und westlich beeinflusst wie seit Generationen nicht.

The states of the Western Balkans still aim to join the EU as soon as possible – despite Brexit. A solid EU perspective for these states is the precondition for a sustainable democratization of the region. Think tank representatives from the region presented their research findings in Brussels November 6–10, 2016 in order to increase awareness of the reform processes underway in their respective countries.