U.S. Foreign Policy
Don’t relax, Europe — the US hard right isn’t finished yet
On December 16-17, 2008, the Brookings Center on the United States and Europe (CUSE), Yalta European Strategy and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation hosted a high-level conference in Kyiv, Ukraine as part of the “Frontiers of Europe” project.
Launched in 2006, “Frontiers of Europe” is a Brookings Center on the United States and Europe initiative that aims to explore the policy options for creating a Europe “whole and free,” including possible routes to membership in key institutions and options for achieving the broader benefits of enlargement in an era of enlargement fatigue. The Kyiv conference capped a series of workshops held in Belgrade, Istanbul and Tbilisi that addressed these issues with regard to the Balkans, Turkey and the states of the Caucasus.
Through a series of panels before a public audience and the press, a select group of leading officials and experts from the United States, the European Union, NATO, Russia, Ukraine and the other “frontier” areas assessed Western policies aimed at solving pending regional issues and advancing the process of stabilization and integration. Panelists explored a number of key issues, including how Europe views the “frontiers,” how Ukraine and other states on the “frontier” view Europe, Russian perspectives, the role of democracy and the rule of law in promoting European integration, and energy connections across the “frontiers” as well as weighed policy options and roles for the European Union, NATO and the United States.
Conference speakers included, among others, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Hryhoriy Nemyria; Vice President of the European Parliament Marek Siwiec; Former Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatseniuk; Brookings Vice President Carlos Pascual; Foreign Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Ohryzhko; Former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski; Vladimir Milov of the Russian Institute of Energy Policy; and Nino Burjanadze of the Georgian Foundation for Democracy and Development.
