The „Eastern European Insights“ series is part of the Berlin Policy Hub Project. In their contributions to the series our partner think tanks from Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine comment on current topics in their home countries and wider region and explain the circumstances of important political, economic and societal events.
These commentaries give detailed insights into the developments in Eastern Partnership countries and offer a critical assessment of events by local experts. The inner-European discussion on the EU neighbouring countries is thus enriched by voices from the countries concerned.
Leonid Litra, Senior Research Fellow, New Europe Center, Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has pledged to achieve peace in Donbas based on the Minsk Agreements and Normandy Format by the end of 2020. Zelensky’s rush to deliver results in the …
Levan Kakhishvili, Policy Analyst (Georgian Institute of Politics)
There is a long tradition in Georgia of reforming the electoral system. Each government has tried to adjust the system in a way that would help to guarantee the preservation of its …
Paata Gaprindashvili, Mariam Tsitsikashvili (GRASS)
The Anaklia deep-sea port, generally and rightly acknowledged as an essential project for Georgia’s long term security and economic development, was launched in 2016, with the Georgian-American Anaklia Development Consortium starting construction works in December …
Iulian Groza (IPRE)
The Republic of Moldova has close ties with the EU, but abuse of rule of law and democratic principles puts that relationship in danger. The country is part of the EU’s Eastern Partnership policy. It is implementing …
Paata Gaprindashvili, Mariam Tsitsikashvili (GRASS)
Georgia held its last direct presidential elections on 28 October 2018. As no candidate reached 50% of the vote, there will be a runoff between the top two: they are Salome Zurabishvili, who is backed …
Paata Gaprindashvili, Mariam Tsitsikashvili
23–25 August 2018 marked Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first regional trip to the South Caucasus, including visits to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Chancellor’s visit not only had an immense significance for these countries, but also demonstrated …
Adrian Lupusor, Executive Director (Expert-Grup)
On 27 July 2018, the Parliament of Moldova adopted one of the most controversial laws that rang alarm bells among a large part of civil society and further undermined the relations with the country’s development partners …
Paata Gaprindashvili, Mariam Tsitsikashvili, Gia Japaridze (GRASS)
In May 2018, thousands of Georgians took to the streets of Tbilisi to protest against missteps of the government shown on two occasions. In response to a drug raid by the police on …