By Naim Ameur,
Senior Manager, Prime Ministry of Tunisia
EGF Affiliated Expert on Maghreb politics

Tunisia embarks upon the process of transition to democracy

It is now a well established fact amongst both the general public as well as the specialist of Middle Eastern politics that Tunisia under the almost-quarter century long rule of former President, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, was managed by a highly restrictive and rather authoritarian political system. The system empowered key pro-regime political instruments such as the Constitutional Democratic Rally simultaneously to ensuring that opposition political parties remained largely powerless or even being loyal to the regime. Other regime opponents, such as Tunisia’s Islamists, found themselves in exile and for the most part expelled from the country. While this is not surprising, given the dearth of democratic political culture in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), this likewise ensured that the country remained a “political wasteland” under its former president, who created what some local scholars now refer to as “political desertification”. READ MORE

• Naim Ameur  |  Published on EGF: 11.07.2011  |  External Relations
•  

ISSUE #23
06/27/2011
On 24 June 2011, the Kiev Pecherskyy district court started a preliminary hearing of the criminal case against Ukrainian opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. She is accused of abusing power, which allegedly took place when she signed gas contracts with Russia in 2009. READ MORE

• Gorshenin Weekly  |  Published on EGF: 29.06.2011  |  External Relations
•  

Gorshenin Institute conducted a round table called “The relations between Ukraine and Russia after Ukraine signs the FTZ agreement with the EU”, where experts discussed the future of Ukrainian-Russian relations in the event of Ukraine signing the Free Trade Zone Agreement with Europe.

The President of expert consulting firm “NEOKON”, Mikhail Khazin, thinks that if Ukraine enters a Free Trade Zone with the EU it can lose the Russian market and a number of its industries. READ MORE

• Gorshenin Institute  |  Published on EGF: 29.06.2011  |  External Relations
•  

A wide strip of mainland and continental shelf territory starting from the Rus- sian sector of the Arctic up to the Arabian Peninsula can be labelled an Arctic - Arabian hydrocarbon belt (CH-belt) of Eurasia. It is the strip where the major mainland oil and gas fields are located on the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, and the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula countries. As the production of hydrocarbons has been developing, transport routes to the markets of their consumption, the major of which is the European Union, started to branch off this diagonal CH-belt of Eurasia in the latitudinal direction. Practically, these transport routes connect the area of production (upstream) with the consumption market (downstream).

• Mykhailo Gonchar, Alexander Duleba, Oleksandr Malynovskyi  |  Published on EGF: 27.06.2011  |  Energy
•  

ISSUE #21
06/13/2011
On 7 June 2011, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov visited Moscow. During his visit, the Ukrainian prime minister and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, participated in a meeting of the Committee on Economic Cooperation of the Ukrainian-Russian Interstate Commission. READ MORE

• Gorshenin Weekly  |  Published on EGF: 17.06.2011  |  External Relations
•  

Gas negotiations were derailed, there will be a scandal at the end of the year - Experts

The Gorshenin Institute has held a round table devoted to the topic of “GAS RELATIONS BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA” during which experts discussed the prospects for revising the gas contracts and the future of the Ukrainian gas transportation system. READ MORE

• Gorshenin Institute  |  Published on EGF: 17.06.2011  |  External Relations
•  

ISSUE #25
07/11/2011
On 8 July 2011, the Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted the law on pension reform, which was drawn up by the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.
The law envisions that the retirement age for women will be gradually raised from 55 to 60 years, the work history requirement for a pension will be increased by 10 years for both men and women and the maximum pension will be limited to 10 minimum wages. READ MORE

• Gorshenin Weekly  |  Published on EGF: 17.06.2011  |  External Relations
•  

Issue 6: May 2011

A Snapshot Of Key Developments In The External Relations Of The Russian Gas Sector

The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, seems to be optimistic about the possibility of obtaining Russian credits to rescue the Belarusian economy. On May 17, he stated that Moscow was ready to lend Minsk $6 billion in 2011. However, the Kremlin responded by suggesting that it will only lend $1 billion and that even this amount will only be possible in combination with the sale of a number of Belarusian assets, notably a 50 percent stake in Beltransgas. Gazprom already holds a 50 percent stake in the company. READ MORE

• EGF Editorial  |  Published on EGF: 13.06.2011  |  Energy
•  

A snapshot of Turkey’s domestic and regional politics during May 2011
Key Points:

• Uprisings in the Middle East continue to make diplomacy a difficult game to master for leaders in Turkey, with Syria’s potential implosion being a matter of great concern for those in power in Ankara.


• With Parliamentary elections scheduled for June 12, and the AKP seeing stronger challenges across the political spectrum, tensions are on the rise in the country. It is unlikely, however, that the AKP will face electoral defeat.


• The Nabucco pipeline continues to be mired in uncertainty as Brussels has not been able to persuade suppliers to sign on to the project. READ MORE

• EGF Editorial  |  Published on EGF: 06.06.2011  |  External Relations
•  

ISSUE #18
05/23/2011
On 17 May 2011, the Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted the law “On amending some Ukrainian state procurement acts.” The mass media reported that the new law envisioned several innovations. The most important of them are described below. READ MORE

• Gorshenin Weekly  |  Published on EGF: 25.05.2011  |  External Relations
•