New Ukraine and its Challenges: War, Reforms, and Economic Troubles

Ein Runder Tisch zur Lage in der Ukraine.

Guests

Oleg Bereziuk, Chairman of Samopomich’s parliamentary group, Kiev

Michael Novak, Policy Planning, German Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Andriy Sadovyi, Founder and Leader of Samopomich

George Soros, Founder & Chairman, Open Society Foundations

Oleksandr Sushko, Board Chair of the International Renaissance Foundation & Chair of Strategic Advisory Groups Secretariat, Kiev

Oksana Syroyid, Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada, Kiev

Chaired by

Josef Janning, Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Berlin

One and a half years after the Maidan protests and one year after the election of  President Poroszenko, Ukraine is still facing enormous challanges. The war is neither over nor is a lasting solution in sight. Furthermore Kiev's reform agena is a long one. At the same time the Ukrainian economy is declining sharply since the last quarter of 2014 – consequently tax income is decreasing and so are the budget resources available to finance reform programmes.

How can the Ukraine escape this seemingly hopeless situation? What oppositions have to be overcome within the country? And what can Europe do to help? Theses were some of the questiones adressed by the high-level roundtable that gathered on June 11th 2015 in the Berlin office of ECFR. George Soros, Founder and Chairman of Open Society Foundations, and Oleksandr Sushko, Board Chair of the International Renaissance Foundation and Chair of Strategic Advisory Groups Secretariat, presented the view of the Ukrainian civil society. Oksana Syroyid, Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada and Oleg Bereziuk, Chairman of Samopomich’s parliamentary group, represented the position of the Ukrainian politicial class and Michael Novak, Policy Planning at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, introduced the German and European perspective into the discussion. Dr. Andrij Melnyk, the Ambassador of the Ukraine in Berlin, and representitives from foundations, think-tanks and media also contributed to the lively debate.

 

 

 

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