Future of Eastern Europe Conference

For more than thirty years Eastern Europe is a region of independent nation-states. During this period there was the promise that after a long struggle democracy and well-being would be achieved. Looking at it today, it is clear that most Eastern European countries are far from democracy and the well-being of citizens.

In this session, we will try to analyse and reflect on the last decades of Eastern Europe, mainly focusing to find the roots of current problems and possible solutions by looking back at the recent history – what shaped the region, how the democratisation and transition took place.

Speakers:

– Sonja Schiffers, Director of Heinrich-Boell Foundation, South Caucasus Office

– Anastasiya Dorofeeva, Belarusian Green party, Belarusian anti-nuclear campaign, hub “Green foundations”

Discussing political dynamics and transformation of Eastern Europe cannot take place without paying attention to global powers and their involvement in the region.

With this session we aim to map global powers: EU – China, Russia and US – and their interests; What role do they play in supporting democracy and progressive agenda or the opposite – encouraging and financing anti-democratic, right-wing and authoritarian forces.

Speakers:

– Anton Cherepenko, the Free Hong Kong Center in Kyiv

– Zarina Burkadze Associate Professor of Political Science, Ilia State University

– Raluca Besliu, contributor of Green European Journal focusing on Eastern European affairs

– Teo Comet, European Greens

Russian aggression against Ukraine is continuing. Every day we are witnessing atrocities, war crimes and violations of international law from the Russian side, at the same time Ukraine is bravely defending its people, sovereignty, democracy and even Europe as a whole.

In this session, we will take a look at a few different aspects of the conflict: the context of the war, the historical roots of Russian aggression, the current events, as well as what greens should do to help Ukraine, and how the ongoing war affects countries in the region.

Facilitated by:

-Kateryna Andrieieva, Executive Committee Member of CDN

-Yevheniia Zasiadko, former Executive Committee Member of CDN

The energy we choose reflects the systems we support. In this session, we will discuss energy as the core factor for sustaining authoritarian regimes and the way the energy sector influences political dynamics. As well as we are going to focus on the possibility of democratisation through energy – decentralisation, renewables and the prospect of energy cooperatives in Eastern Europe.

Speakers:

-Manana Kochladze, Bankwatch Strategic Area Leader – Democratization and Human Rights

-Yevheniia Zasiadko, Head of climate and transport department at Ecoaction – Centre for Environmental Initiatives

Workshop:

Sandy-Kyriaki Fameliari, ElectaEnergy Cooperative

The Workshop aims to add a philosophical, ethical and institutional dimension to the conversations on the Future of Eastern Europe happening at the Conference. It hopes to bring together the different voices and ideas from the wealth of participants and facilitate a meaningful discussion on how to put Ecology at the Centre of Democracy.

How can we make democracy more ecological? What kind of changes do we need to apply to our thinking about participation, institutions and decision-making to put ecology and the environment at the forefront of our political systems?

These are some of the questions that we’ll be asking and trying to answer at our Ecodemocracy Workshop!

Facilitators:

– Annie Maniadi and Dimitris Papageorgiou, Green Institute of Greece

The session aims to provide participants with the basis of conflict theory and conflict resolution and analyze the conflicts in EE through case studies. The session encompasses theoretical and practical parts that will be conducted through non-formal education methods. The objectives of the session are 1)to understand the concept of conflict (origin, causes, consequences), 2) to discuss the mechanisms of handling conflict, particularly, conflict resolution, and 3) to explore the conflicts that happened in EE in recent years, their consequences and current state.

For the last decades, if you checked the electoral map of Europe intending to see how Green parties have been performing, you would see a clear pattern: Greens in the west and north do well – they get elected in national and regional parliaments, city councils, win mayorships and even participate in governing coalitions; while in the east – you would see a grey colour representing either absence of Green parties from the political landscape or lack of support and therefore relevance. However, in recent years the pattern is dissolving and becoming a blur, the Green wave spreading to the East.

During the panel, we will discuss the ongoing Green wave with newly established Green political parties across Eastern Europe with the aim to analyse current success, find the patterns and similarities, understand the importance of grassroots movements and civil society, map challenges, envision the future and their influence on the political landscape.

Speakers:

– Justine Pantelejeva, Progresīvie, Latvia

– Sopo Shubitidze, Mtsvaneebi, Georgia

– Predrag Momčilović, Ne davimo Beograd, Serbia

– Stefan Vukmanovic, Ura Montenegro

– Koray Doğan Urbarlı, Green Party Turkey