Thanks to European integration the peace and prosperity prevailed on our continent. Benefits of integration are much bigger than its cons – said Thijs van der Plas, Deputy Minister for European Affairs at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the “European Integration pros and cons” conference. The heading lecture was given by prof. Ryszard Legutko. It was followed by the discussion. The Center for International Relations participated in the meeting at the invitation of the organizer, the Lech Kaczyński National School of Public Administration.

MIKTA is a five-country cross-regional consultative and coordination platform that emerged on the margins of UN General Assembly in New York on September 25, 2013. It’s grouping Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia, every single of them are rising and resilient open economies with strong open domestic markets and demographic structure, as well as large democracies. Since its inception, MIKTA has been advertising itself as a „New Innovative Partnership” based on its diverse composition: it encompasses different civilizations, religions, economies and geographies. – writes Bruno Surdel Ph. D., expert of Center for International Relations in his analysis MIKITA: an innovative partnership.

Stability of Balkans is the stability of the European Union – said Antonio Tajani, the president of the European Parliament at the today EU – Western Balkans Summit in Sofia. The meeting was concerning, among the others, the prospects of enlargement of the Union to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. The heads of these countries talked with EU leaders in that format for the first time in 15 years, when they met in Thessaloniki, Greece. The head of the CIR, Małgorzata Bonikowska Ph.D., was observing that event live.

The idiom ‘well begun is half done,’ perhaps fits best for what the world witnessed last week. The two Koreas seeking to put the past behind and give peace a chance. The big step literally was taken by North’s Chairman Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, - writes Sabina Inderjit, co-worker of the Center for International Relations and the head of INFA News in her analysis “Time for Peace. Inter-Korea Summit”.

Brexit has ‘added a new twist’ to the Netherlands’ traditional diplomatic role in Europe, where it has long mediated between the big continental powers - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said recently. With the UK heading towards Brexit and the Franco-German integration motor running, the country, which arguably punches above its weight, has increased the stakes. – writes in his analysis "Dutch vision of the UE: principles or pragmatism?" Robert Steenland, coworker and analytic of the Center for International Relations.

Consulting Training for leaders from Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia is realized by the Center for International Relation in cooperation with the International Republican Institute. The project aims to the consolidation of the acting ability of young politicians in the public sphere and focuses on building analytical capabilities and improvement of presentation and media techniques. In the project participate representatives of political parties of different options, both ruling and opposition. The next reveal of the project took place in Moldova. We met with representatives of think tanks and led the training concerning using the data.

For the invitation of prestigious Czech think-tank Asociace pro mezinárodní otázky (Association for International Affairs), Slovak Institute of Asian Studies and Hungarian Central and Eastern European Center for Asian Studies, experts of the Center for International Relations participated in the expert meeting in Bratislava, considering the Chinese influences in Central Europe.