Dr Bartłomiej Nowak, expert at the Centre for International Relations, in a conversation with Agnieszka Lichnerowicz: "Instead of transitioning from level 2 to level 3 sactions, the EU suddenly created a couple of intermediate levels in between. Few remember that sanctions aim to deter and to counteract, and not only to condemn. After all, they can always be undone. The problem also is that Putin has no good way out. He reawakened nationalist sentiments in Russia to such an extent, and with the aid of media created an alternative reality, that he closed off for himself all possible ways of withdrawal from the conflict".

It was not hard to notice that since the first direct election to the European Parliament, the percentage of Europeans who submitted their vote gradually decreased. A slightly different situation occurred in Germany, where on a federal tier one would always notice a higher attendance than in other member states – claims Malwina Księżniakiewicz in the newest issue of the German Bulletin entitled "German elections to the European Parliament - Have a grandpa? Send him to Europe".

Centre for International Relations together with The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung and the Israeli European Policy Network held the conference "The Future of Youth in Europe and Israel. Social Exclusion and the Quality of Democracy". During several roundtable debates, participants will discuss - among other subjects - socio-economic challenges for youth in Europe and Israel, problems of reviving democracy, fighting voter apathy and populism.

Dr Małgorzata Bonikowska, President of the Centre for International Relations, participated in the conference: "NATO – Asia / Pacific Dialogue 2014. Cooperative Security in a New Strategic Security Environment" organized by The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The conference took place between June 24-31 in Seoul, South Korea. Participants debated on several issues, including the influence of Russian Crimea annexation on international safety, lessons which NATO has learned from the intervention in Afghanistan and challenges of smart defense in regard to cyber security.

The ‘Africa, Belgium, Poland – Cooperation for Development’ conference was held on June 5th, 2014 in Brussels. The seminar was organized within the activation of economic cooperation with the African continent and regarded opportunities of cooperation on the African market, the most important challenges that both Polish and Belgian economies need to face regarding expansion to third markets, especially African ones.

Over 400 representatives of Polish and Vietnamese business, vice-minister of foreign relations Katarzyna Kacperczyk, vice-president of Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency and Malgorzata Bonikowska, Phd, President of Centre for International Relations participated in Polish business mission in Vietnam. During the mission several meetings in Vietnamese ministries, Ministry of Agriculture amongst them, were organized. The mission ended with Business Forum in Ho Chi Minh.

THINKTANK and Centre for International Relations in cooperation with PZU and ORLEN collected exclusive testimonies form architects and witnesses of the Big Change, as well as international politicians’ opinions, who were and still are actively observing it. In a unique publication and on a dedicated website, testimonies from exceptional individuals, including Tony Blair, Javier Solana, Lech Wałęsa, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Leszek Miller, Jerzy Buzek, were gathered. The publication opens with an introduction by President Bronisław Komorowski.