Europe

Die Republik Belarus nimmt im Zuge der anhaltenden Krise in der Ukraine eine wichtige Brückenfunktion ein. Bestrebt, die Beziehungen zur Europäischen Union zu normalisieren und gleichzeitig die Einbindung in die regionalen Strukturen der Eurasischen Wirtschaftsunion voranzutreiben, diente Minsk in der jüngeren Vergangenheit mehrfach als Verhandlungsplattform zwischen Vertretern der OSZE, Russlands, der Ukraine sowie der Separatisten in Lugansk und Donezk.

“As an athlete, I know that you can’t win without a fight. We are fighting for our country,” Vitali Klitschko told a group of 230 guests at the DGAP on January 30. Ukraine needs to intensify its orientation toward Europe. It needs European expertise, technology, good practices, and above all, financial support. So Kiev’s current mayor and head of the pro-European, anti-corruption party Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) is lobbying for more support from the EU and from Germany.

The TRAIN project (Think Tanks Providing Research and Advice through Interaction and Networking) has supported independent policy research institutes from the Western Balkans since 2010. In mid-December alumni of the program gathered in Berlin to analyze long-term developments in the relations between their governments and civil society, applying the method of strategic foresight.