06:22. Centraal station van Kiev. Er zijn al veel mensen op de been en de perrons staan vol. Zo ook perron 7 vanwaar onze trein naar het oosten van Oekraïne vertrekt. De zes uur durende reis en de daarop volgende twee dagen zal ik doorbrengen met collega’s van FEPS, IUSY, de Deense jonge sociaaldemocraten en onze begeleiders van het Social Democratic Platform in Oekraïne. Het werkbezoek staat in het teken van het conflict over de koers van Oekraïne: meer Europa of meer Rusland, en de daarop volgende separatistische opstanden op de Krim en in de Donbass regio: de oblasten (provincies) Donetsk en Luhansk . Met het neerhalen van de MH-17 kwam dit conflict ook voor Nederland heel dichtbij, maar sluimert nu weer meer op de achtergrond.
Op 31 januari heeft de Roemeense regering een noodbesluit aangenomen. Deze ging om een sterke verlaging van de straffen voor ambtsmisbruik, een verwarring van de bewijslast voor dit misdrijf en een grenswaarde van rond de 50.000 euro waaronder ambtsmisbruik niet meer strafbaar zou zijn. Na grote protest acties, werd het noodbesluit terug ingetrokken.
Na de recente parlementsverkiezingen is de PSD de grootste partij gebleven en heeft een coalitie gevormd. Op de achtergrond spelen grote belangen van partijbaronnen en zakenlui die de adem van de speciale anticorruptiedienst in hun nek voelen. De druk op de nieuwe regering is groot om maatregelen te nemen, die de vooruitgang van de afgelopen jaren op justitiegebied weer moeten terugdraaien.
On 30 November De Balie in Amsterdam invited Zhanna Nemtsova, journalist at Deutsche Welle and daughter of Boris Nemtsov – a Russian liberal oppositional politician who was assassinated on 27 February 2015 – to give a freedom lecture. Nemtsova spoke about her father, propaganda in Russia and the Boris Nemtsov Foundation for Freedom. The event, moderated by Kirsten van den Hul, also featured discussions with PvdA Member of Parliament Michiel Servaes and the Insideout documentary team, Masha Ru and Katia Krupennikova.
Afgelopen weekend organiseerden we een campagnetraining voor jongeren van de Democratische Partij in Moldavië. Er zijn in het land kort geleden presidentsverkiezingen geweest die teleurstellen verliepen voor de partij, en dus willen ze zich nu concentreren op het opleiden van de jongeren generatie politici.
On 13 November the run-off Presidential elections took place in Moldova. An openly pro-Russian socialist candidate Igor Dodon assumed presidency with 99.9% of votes counted. Dodon (Socialist Party and former economy minister in a communist 2006-2009 government) acquired 52.29% of votes against the pro-European candidate Maia Sandu (Action and Solidarity Party and former World Bank official and education minister in 2012-2015), who received 47.71%. The voters turnout was 53.3%, only 4% higher than in the first round on 30 October, while abroad it doubled. Such a result could influence the ongoing EU integration efforts of Moldova. Dodon has said during his campaign that he plans to conduct a referendum on withdrawing from the Association Agreement with the EU and joining the Eurasian Customs Union instead. Good relations with Romania and Ukraine have been claimed to be of interest to Dodon as well, even though he has said recently that Crimea is a ‘factual’ part of Russia, which caused outrage in Ukraine. Sandu, in her turn, supported the withdrawal of several thousands of Russian “peacekeeping” troops from the separatist Trans-Dniester region, which broke away in early 1990s. It was unusual that 9,000 people came to vote in Trans-Dniester this time, where they usually do not participate in Moldovan elections.
On 30 October the ruling party Georgian Dream – Democratic Georgia (GDDG) won the second round of parliamentary elections that took place in 50 single-mandate constituencies and gained a 116-seat majority required to change the Constitution (it won 67 seats in the first round and 49 in the second). The opposition United National Movement (UNM) will remain with 27 seats and the pro-Russian Alliance of Patriots - with 6 seats. Now GDDG will be able to introduce its candidate for the post of a Prime Minister, who has more authority than the President and will form the new government. GDDG won in 48 out of 49 districts where it nominated its candidates. In Mtatsminda district of Tbilisi GDDG supported an independent candidate, Salome Zourabichvili, who won. In all 44 districts, where GDDG’s main rival was UNM, GDDG candidates won with a significant margin (e. g. 79.27% against 20.73 in Saburtalo district), including two districts (Marneuli and Akhaltsikhe/Adigeni), where UNM candidates won the first rounds. The only district, where GDDG candidate was defeated, is Khashuri, where a candidate from the Industrialists party managed to gain victory.
Social democracy in Ukraine is often surrounded by misconception. Ukrainians tend to confuse social democracy with socialism, bolshevism, communism, fascism or Nazism. Not many pay due attention to the main ideas of social democracy, such as workers’ well-being, equal opportunities, lessening the gap between rich and poor, freedom and solidarity. Social democracy’s spirit has a lot in common with the French Revolution motto “Liberté, égalité, fraternité!”. Social democracy stands against nationalistic hatred, intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia. Social democracy could be the way to stop war in Donbas and fight corruption and oligarchy in post-Soviet states. If everybody is free, equal and solidary – there is simply no reason to fight a war or give a bribe.
Op 11 december wordt er in Roemenië een nieuw parlement gekozen. De grootste partij is een bolwerk van corruptie. Er is ook een nieuwkomer op het toneel, zonder wortels in de oude communistische elites.
