In the past year, New Europe was for us both a name and a definition of the reality we had to work in, but above all, it was a goal. Every day, the NEC team worked to ensure that Ukraine was a co-creator of the new Europe, and not just a bystander.
One of the main events of the year was the launch of “The Vision of the New Europe” initiative. We talked about the future of Europe with students and opinion leaders, in Kyiv and in the regions. In the end, we entered the field that is still a “blue ocean” for Ukrainian think tanks: together with the Old Lion Publishing House, we published a collection of essays by Ukrainian intellectuals “New Europe.” Our goal was to talk through this book with those who are not necessarily interested in narrow- focused foreign policy analysis, but care about Europe’s future and their role in it. The fact that the Ukrainian PEN club included this book in the list of the best books of 2018 has become an indicator for us that we succeeded.
The year was also marked by the uneasy struggle for Europe’s security. What could be done when the Council of Europe could quite possibly become the first European fortress to fall under the Kremlin’s pressure? How to cooperate with the countries of the European Union, where populists and anti-European forces come to power? How to stop Russia’s violent actions in the Azov Sea? These and many other topics have become drivers for our analytical materials. Over the last year, the NEC has developed 25 policy products, 42 articles, and 18 blogs; our experts gave 36 interviews and 72 comments; we organized 54 public events in 15 cities in Ukraine and abroad independently or in cooperation with other think tanks, consulting companies, creative hubs, and publishing houses – that was the year 2018 for the NEC team.
The year 2019, with the dual elections in Ukraine, the elections to the European Parliament, the ever-shattering transatlantic unity and the bizarre process of Brexit will bring many challenges to Europe; moreover, it will be another test of its strength. As His Grace Borys (Gudziak) noted in his piece for the collection of essays “New Europe,” “the New Europe needs courage to accept the challenges and find a creative answer to them.” This quote could be both an epigraph of the coming year and a work guide. In this very manner, searching for new creative ideas for the new time, the NEC will continue fulfilling its mission.
Alyona Getmanchuk,
Director,
New Europe Center
You can find out more about the NEC activities in our annual report.
This report was prepared by the New Europe Center as part of its project implemented under the USAID/ ENGAGE activity, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Pact, and within the Think Tank Development Initiative for Ukraine (TTDI), carried out by the International Renaissance Foundation in partnership with the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE) with financial support of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine.
The contents of this report are the sole responsibility of the New Europe Center and its partners and do not necessary reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government or Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine, the International Renaissance Foundation, and the Open Society Initiative for Europe (OSIFE).
