Berlin Process – 10 years later
The leaders from the Western Balkans together with their European colleagues marked 10 years since the Berlin Process. In the past decade, not a single Balkan country has achieved its goal of becoming part of the European family. We talk with our colleague Aleksandar Metodijev about the future of the Union, the change in the course of migration and enlargement policy, as well as the role of Germany on the continent.
Watch the full episode.
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Dolidze: Georgians are not giving up on the fight for a European future – There will be protests even during the holidays
Georgians will welcome the New Year with protests and will not give up on their European future – says the Leader of the For the People party, Anna Dolidze. Dolidze is an expert in international law, until 2018 she was the legal advisor to the President, and then a member of the Judicial Council.
In Labyrinth we talked about the stolen elections and the Russian hybrid influence that managed to divert the country from the European integration path. The protests escalated, and the use of water cannons and violence by the police did not change the Georgians’ minds to continue fighting for their rights. About 500 protesters, including some injured, will spend the holidays in detention. We also discussed with Dolidze the international support and the sanctions imposed by the US and the UK on some of the Georgian authorities, but not by the European Union.
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EU residents vote for their future - the Balkans remain in the waiting list
What course will the new political setup in the EU take?
Macedonia's neighbors are again using the country for internal political purposes, the European Union is in an election process that has greatly divided the residents of the Union, even greater challenges await the new European set-up, military hotspots are still part of the world - we talk about these topics in Labyrinth with the political scientist Viktor Jakimovski.
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Macedonia got a new President - Eastern European countries are fighting for democracy
Analysis of Macedonian diplomacy, Callings from Georgia and Ukraine on the situation with the protests and the war.
The first guest in this edition of Labyrinth is the former Ambassador of Macedonia to Sweden and Romania, Tihomir Ilievski. We talked about the oath taken by the new President and the reactions it caused among our neighbors. Despite the reactions and difficulties in bilateral relations, the diplomat is still optimistic about the European integration of Macedonia, as well as about the normalization of relations in the entire Balkans.
In Georgia, massive civil protests are taking place over the law on "foreign agents" which moves the country away from the European path, but also seriously threatens the livelihood and freedom of Georgian citizens. From Tbilisi, we were joined by Ekaterine Basilaia - director of the Center for Media and Social Research of Georgia, who explained in more detail what this law is and why so many people took to the streets. We discussed the use of excessive force by the police in arresting peaceful protesters and the legal fight to protect those detained.
In Labyrinth, we also included the volunteer in the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces, Volodymyr Sapekhin. Volodymyr has been going to the fronts and back for more than two years. We talked about the current situation on the fronts, about the progress of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, but also about his personal feelings about the two realities he lives in.
