EU-Neighbourhood Policy

The EU’s positive agenda in its Turkey policy is based on wrong assumptions where Europe’s strategic interests lie.

To mark the occasion, we will be publishing a series of literary essays by authors from the region over the next few weeks. The contributions reflect what the protagonists hoped for and how they look today at what they have achieved, a kind of "look back to the future". They make clear how important the personal confrontations are in order to develop political alternatives.

It’s a decade since democratic protests began in the Middle East and North Africa and still for many activists the fight against authoritarian regimes and in pursuit of dignity and political reform is far from over. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Three stories from Egypt, Syria and Tunisia illustrate how the revolutions in these countries are still a work in progress – in spite of violent repercussions and the all-round terrible toll they have taken.

Georgia has been unable to find peace since the parliamentary elections in October 2020. The resignation of Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia, respected for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, in conjunction with the imprisonment of opposition leader Nika Melia on 23 February 2021, is merely another low point in this trend. The egotism of the neoliberal political elite favours informal structures leading to a creeping "Russification" of the country.

In the last few months, more than 500 migrants have lost their lives trying to leave West Africa for the Canary Islands and thus Europe, in a terrible repeat of the situation of 2005/2006. In 2006 alone, more than 32,000 migrants set off on the perilous journey from the coast of West Africa hoping to reach the Canary Islands across the sea.

A 6-year-old boy from Afghanistan drowned in November 2020 off the coast of Samos. Ηe was with his father and other asylum seekers onboard a dinghy that was shipwrecked. The tragic loss of a child’s life hardly made an impression on the international media or public discourse in Greece.  

What are the challenges in Tunisia of deploying effective Covid-19 measures while remaining committed to the protection of individual rights and liberties for the whole period of the crisis? Mahassen Segni interviews Professor Wahid Ferchichi, founder of the Tunisian Association for the Defence of Individual Liberties.

When the Taliban put a bounty on Afghan director Hassan Fazili’s head, he was forced to flee the country with his wife and two young daughters. He captured the family’s uncertain journey at first hand, documenting their harrowing trek across numerous borders.

The new ceasefire agreement negotiated between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan has grave geopolitical and domestic consequences for the South Caucasus states. Stefan Meister, Director of the Heinrich Böll Foundation South Caucasus, explains 10 consequences of the agreement.

In contrast to many declarations that Italy should not be left to face the challenges of mass boat arrivals from North Africa alone, the New Pact's proposals if anything renew the obsolete “Dublin system”.