Nieuws

Afgelopen weekend organiseerden wij samen met de UK Labour Partij een regionale training in Chisinau, Moldavië, waar jongeren uit 5 landen aan meededen. De lokale organisatie was in handen van de jongeren van de Democratische Partij van Moldavië.

On 17 May a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights march took place in Moldovan capital Chisinau. Around one hundred people participated. Next to this group, the same amount of people hold a protest against gay rights. This happened in Georgia as well on the same day, due to a newly adopted anti-discrimination law.

On 5 May around 100 activists representing several Kyrgyz nongovernmental organisations held a protest against Kyrgyzstan joining the Russian-led Customs Union. It is not the first time that groups in (potential) member state countries have doubts about this Union.

On 3 April the Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisian announced that he will resign. Why he took this unexpected decision is not yet clear. Sarkisian was six years in office. The ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) said that Sarkisian announced his resignation at a meeting of its governing body chaired by President Serzh Sarkisian (no relation). Under the Armenian constitution, all government ministers must also step down if the prime minister is dismissed or decides to quit.

Afgelopen weekend organiseerden wij de jaarlijkse Leadership Academy in Armenië. Voor de 5e keer op rij, reisden trainers van de FMS, VVD en CDA naar Armenië om een uitgebreide training te geven aan jongeren uit 7 verschillende partijen, zowel regering als oppositie.

In het mooie Oekraïense stadje Lviv organiseerde Foundation Max van der Stoel in samenwerking met de UK Labour Party tussen 16 en 21 juli een Zomeracademie. De 23 jonge deelnemers waren afkomstig uit Armenië, Azerbeidjaan, Georgië, Rusland, Belarus Moldavië en Oekraïne.

On July 4th, members of Kosovo’s ethnic Serb minority established their own assembly, as a protest against the steps taken by Belgrade which they see as recognition of the government in Pristina. The provisional assembly has not been recognized by Belgrade. Mayor of the Serb municipality Lepasovic, Slavko Stevanovic, has been elected President of the assembly.

On June 18, the Armenian government announced that it is considering giving up its minority stake in Armenia’s national gas company ArmRosGazprom (ARG), during the ongoing negotiations with the Russian gas multinational Gazprom, over the price of Russian natural gas delivered to the country. ARG will then be placed under full Russian control.