European Forum

European Forum conference ‘Social Democracy in Eastern Europe’

On October 22nd and 23rd the European Forum, together with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Kiev office, organised the conference ‘Social Democracy in Eastern Europe’, in Kiev, Ukraine.

At the conference representatives of social democratic political parties and organisations, as well as independent political scientists and experts from the civil society discussed the current situation and the historic developments in Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine.

The first day was dedicated to the current situation related to the global economic crisis, the challenges and prospects of social democracy in the four countries, and the relationship with the EU. On the second day more in-depth discussions took place on the historic democratic institution building and the development of social democracy in all four countries since their independence form the Soviet Union.

Some interesting discussions took place, with the experts sometimes strongly disagreeing with each other, but what was clear is that all four countries are facing major difficulties when it comes to democracy and social democracy, with a more positive exception being Moldova, where the ruling coalition seems to genuinely have democratic values at its heart. 

A full report of the conference will follow shortly.