The Gorshenin Institute held a round-table discussion Russia-Ukraine-EU: Prospects for Mutual Relations on 17 February 2011 in the framework of the Project “Viktor Yanukovych’s First Year of Presidency. Conclusions”.

The member of the European Parliament, co-chairman of the joint parliamentary committee on EU - Ukraine cooperation, Pawel Kowal, in his written comments to Gorshenin Institute said that the recent events in Ukraine do not move the country closer to the EU. Kowal said that the EU and especially some members of the European Parliament are particularly concerned watching the developments in Ukraine. Kowal said that a lot of information appeared recently showing Ukraine’s drift towards the Russian model of “sovereign democracy”. He did not rule out that the serious work and achievements that Ukrainians have made over the past few years may be ruined. In particular, Kowal told about European politicians’ concerns and disappointment with the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General’s Office ban to the leader of the Batkivschyna party, Yuliya Tymoshenko, to visit Brussels. “Lack of credibility may pull down Ukraine to lower league of countries which are subject of constant worriment from the UE side. We already had a yellow light: Freedom House rated Ukraine as a partly democratic country” – Kowal said. READ MORE

• February 22, 2011

February 2011

Key positions:

• Former Turkish Prime Minister, Necmettin Erbakan, passed away Sunday 27 February. He was 84. Erbakan, the first Islamist prime minister of the Turkish Republic, was forced to resign after only a year into his reign by the military, in what is called the first ‘post-modern coup’.

• Under the guidance of current Prime Minister Erdogan, Turkey has stayed on the sidelines throughout much of the past weeks while protests raged throughout the Middle East. Ankara is finding its new position as a dominant regional actor as having less impact than previously thought, but has been forced to act pragmatically due to the proximity of its own citizens and financial interests in the affected nations.

• Prime Minister Erdogan recently spoke in Dusseldorf, Germany, telling Turks there that while they should learn the (German) language and participate in wider culture of their new homeland; assimilation would be an affront to their human rights. The prime minister also spoke positively about Turkey’s accession to the EU, surprising some for the positive manner in which the AKP leader addressed the issue after years of European rejection.

• The Nabucco gas pipeline still appears to be up in the air as none of the participating companies have yet signed any construction agreements, while a Russian delegation has put pressure on the Brussels-EU whilst addressing its own energy security concerns. READ MORE

• February 22, 2011

With construction of the EU's ambitious Nabucco gas pipeline slated to begin in less than a year, huge question marks remain over its financing and the actual supplies of gas it is supposed to transport.

• February 21, 2011

European leaders have launched a trillion-euro bid to cut dependence on Middle East oil and Russian gas, clearing the way to place nuclear power at the center of 21st-century needs.

• February 21, 2011

Iranian Deputy Energy Minister Mohammad Behzad said Iran will increase electricity export to Iraq with the construction of a new power transmission line

• February 21, 2011

The European Union agreed to provide Armenia with a loan of 65 million euros and a grant of up to 35 million euros to help the country out of the global economic crisis

• February 21, 2011

Despite tightening international economic sanctions, Iran is driving to boost its energy industry, including a natural gas pipeline to Iraq and Syria that may even run to southern Europe and another to run through Turkey to Europe.

• February 19, 2011

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız on Friday said Turkey will have three functioning nuclear power plants by 2023.

• February 19, 2011