IDMonSite/Belarus: Pavel Chuduk

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IDMonSite/Belarus: Pavel Chuduk

ebastian Schäffer, Managing Director of IDM, interviews Pavel Chuduk, founder of the Center for Civil Communications: Who are the people demonstrating in Belarus? What are their main demands? What unites them? Which role does the EU play for the protest movement? Will Lukashenko be successful in securing his power? Pavel Chuduk is taking part in the ongoing mass demonstrations for free elections and the resignation of President Aleksandr Lukashenko in Belarus. On 9. August 2020, he was detained by the police. In a spontaneous interview with IDM during the “March of Unity” on 6. September 2020 he describes the situation on site, reports on police violence and talks about the geopolitical perspective of his home country.

IDM Short Insights 7: Personal impressions from the Belarusian protests

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After the presidential election in #Belarus on 9. August 2020, #protests were held in all major cities in the country following the announcement of the results, in which the incumbent Alexander Lukashenko, who has been ruling since 1994, won with 80% of the votes. The candidate of the opposition, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya had to leave the country. The protests have been violently suppressed by the authorities. More than 200 people have been injured, several are reported dead and 50+ are missing. Over 7000 people have been arrested. As we are approaching the fifth week of the protest, Pavel Chuduk – founder of the Center for Civil Communications in Minsk – witnessed the escalation of violence during the march of unity on 6. September 2020, which has the motto „one for all and all for one“.

IDM Short Insights 6 – Presidential Elections in Poland

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Malwina Talik comments on the two ballots that led to the narrow victory of the incumbent president of Poland, why the country experiences a visible, serious split in the society and what consequences this might have for the relations towards the European Union.

 

Parliamentary Elections in North Macedonia 2020

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Online Podiumsdiskussion veranstaltet vom IDM in Kooperation mit der Politischen Akademie und dem Karl-Renner-Institut

Despite the fact that North Macedonia managed to settle the name dispute with neighboring Greece, as well as cultural issues with Bulgaria and got the green light from Brussels to start accession talks, the enthusiasm for Zoran Zaev and his government among the citizens seems to be deflating. How is the current political situation in North Macedonia? Is a reliable prognosis of the upcoming elections possible? Which future developments are likely? The Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), in cooperation with the Dr.-Karl-Renner-Institut and the Political Academy of the ÖVP, organized the online panel discussion “Parliamentary Elections in North Macedonia”.

 

Introduction:

Mag. Sebastian SCHÄFFER, Managing Director, Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna

Briefing on the current situation in North Macedonia: Dr. Gerhard MARCHL, Head of the Department of European Politics, Karl-Renner-Institut, Vienna

 

Panel Discussion:

Sofia Maria SATANAKIS, M.E.S., AIES Research Fellow, Associate Researcher at European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Vienna

Stefani SPIROVSKA, President, Youth Educational Forum, Skopje

DI Milan MIJALKOVIC, Austrian-Macedonian architect, artist and author, Vienna/Skopje

 

Moderation

Sebastian SCHÄFFER, Managing Director, Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna

Parliamentary Elections in Croatia 2020

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The Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), in cooperation with the Dr.-Karl-Renner-Institut and the Politische Akademie organised an online panel discussion on the upcoming parliamentary elections in Croatia to be held on 06 July 2020.

Introduction – Lucas Maximilian SCHUBERT, Research Associate, Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) Vienna

Introduction – Lorenz JAHN, Politische Akademie

Panel Discussion – Tena PRELEC, Research Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford, Research Associate at LSEE-Research on South Eastern Europe, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science

Nino PRELOŽNJAK, Vice-President, Croatian Youth Network (mmh)

 Zrinka VRABEC-MOJZEŠ, Journalist and Columnist at the weekly “Nacional”, Zagreb

Moderation: Lucas Maximilian SCHUBERT, Research Associate, Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM), Vienna

IDMonSite/North Macedonia: Pishtar Lutfiu

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We will look at the current situation in NorthMacedonia, which has recently gone through a second wave of COVID 19 infections in the country – although the state of emergency has not been extended. Despite all efforts taken by the government many questions remain. Will North Macedonia be able to cope with the economic setbacks caused by the Coronavirus pandemic? What are the consequences for the healthcare sector? Can there be a prognosis for the upcoming elections? Erhard Busek (IDM) will talk with Pishtar Lutfiu, the former Minister of Education and Science of North Macedonia. Lutfiu was the president of “Alpbach Forum Macedonia” and is currently a board member of the “Fund for innovations and technology development” and project coordinator of the research and analytic center “Abdilaqim Ademi”. Beside that he worked as well in the Secretariat for Implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement (SIOFA) in the Government of North Macedonia.

IDMonSite/Germany: Ulrich Schneckener

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IDMonSite/Germany: Ulrich Schneckener

Wir freuen uns im Rahmen unserer #IDMonSite Livestream-Reihe Prof. Dr. Ulrich Schneckener begrüßen zu dürfen. Er ist Professor für Internationale Beziehungen und Friedens- und #Konfliktforschung am Zentrum für Demokratie- und #Friedensforschung (ZeDF) der Universität Osnabrück. Außerdem ist er seit April 2016 Vorstandsvorsitzender der Deutschen Stiftung Friedensforschung. Geopolitische Machtspiele und nationalstaatliche Alleingänge gefährden nicht erst seit dem Ausbruch der Corona-Krise die Europäische Integration. 75 Jahre nach Ende des 2. Weltkriegs in Europa und 70 Jahre nach der Schuman-Erklärung prägen Differenzen und Konflikte den Kontinent. Die Herausforderungen für die EU sind auch ohne Virus zahlreich – Verhandlungen über die zukünftigen Beziehungen mit dem Vereinigten Königreich, über den Mehrjährigen Finanzrahmen, und mit den Staaten des Westlichen Balkans über einen möglichen Beitritt, um nur einige zu nennen. Wie sind die Maßnahmen zur Eindämmung der COVID-19 Pandemie in den EU-Mitgliedstaaten zu bewerten? Welche Möglichkeiten und Grenzen haben die Europäischen Institutionen, um auf die wirtschaftlichen Folgen reagieren zu können? Sehen wir eine Rückkehr zur Solidarität oder breitet sich der Populismus weiter aus? Wie kann ein effektiver Multilateralismus auch in diesen Zeiten gewährleistet werden?

IDMonSite/Romania: Mihai Razvan Ungureanu

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In our next IDMonSite session, we are very much looking forward to talk to Mihai Razvan Ungureanu, former Prime Minister, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Romania. He is Professor at the Faculty of History, University of Bucharest, Professorial Lecturer at the Diplomatic Academy Vienna and Project Leader of “Mechanisms of Modernization and Nation State Institutionalization in Central and Eastern Europe“ at IDM. We will discuss the current situation in Romania, the measures taken by the government and the consequences for the healthcare system. Bucharest has experienced a serious outbreak of the COVID-19 disease endangering to overwhelm public health. Drastic fines have been issued to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Temporarily almost 1.000.000 employees have been out of work, since 21. April some have been able to return. In the meantime, seasonal workers have been flown, amongst other countries, to Germany. We will talk about the economic political consequences of the pandemic for Romania and the European Union.

IDM Short Insights 5 – Šejla Mujačić zur aktuellen Situation in Bosnien und Herzegowina

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Šejla Mujačić berichtet in unserem Format #IDMShortInsights über die aktuelle Lage in Bosnien und Herzegowina während der #COVID-19-Pandemie aus #Sarajevo.

 

IDMonSite/Bulgaria: Yasen Georgiev

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Most countries in the European Union are in lockdown. While this is a necessary measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus and to protect the health care system from a collapse, it already does have a severe impact on the economies in the member states. Varying national attempts to alleviate the situation have been put into place, however, there seems to be no common approach – e.g. corona bonds – on a European level. We talked with Yasen Georgiev, Executive Director of the Economic Policy Institute in Sofia, about the current situation in Bulgaria, the possible delay of the introduction of the Euro due to the pandemic in the country and the prospects for the post-COVID-19 development in the region and for the single market.

Economic Policy Institute:http://www.epi-bg.org/index.php/en/