Kristof Bender
@kristofbender
For a strong & democratic Europe. Balkans, Moldova, Ukraine. Asylum policy, HR Deputy chair European Stability Initiative (ESI), Europe’s Futures @iwm.at , www.esiweb.org
Never forget: 31 years #Srebrenica #genocide If you get the chance, visit the Srebrenica Memorial Centre in Potocari. It is an extraordinary place of remembrance. Also visit Srebrenica town, where Serbs and Bosniaks again share their lives - in politics, at work, at school, at sports.
NATO lets Turkey decide which journalists to accredit to the NATO summit taking place in Ankara 7-8 July. yavuzbaydar.substack.com/p/a-regular-...
10 years BREXIT 10 years outside of the #SingleMarket Northern Ireland stayed in the Single Market and outperformed all, including London.
Visited Goce Delcev’s remains in #Skopje after a long time. Have started looking at Macedonian and Bulgarian identity questions again. Fascinatingly interesting. Huge pity, though, that this is not debated and explored constructively, but used to block 🇲🇰 path towards the EU.
The most important paragraph in the new French-German non-paper on the EU #accession #process is the last one: making full participation in the Single Market before full EU membership possible. But to really revive the process and set incentives also for those lagging behind to push reforms ...
ESI team meeting in #Tallinn - planning and plotting: #Ukraine & the EU, the #AfD threat and what to do about it, #Bosnia 30 yrs after Dayton, managing irregular #migration legally, how to bring #war #criminals to justice and much more...
In #Vienna this Wednesday? Pop by at 18:00 at Schikaneder Cinema for this film screening and discuss with us about the future of Europe. The first drink is on the organisers ...
Congratulations to the winners of the "Fellowship for Journalistic Excellence" (generation 2024): 🥇Malgorzata Rejmer for her story of how cocaine changed Albania 🥈Georgi Totev for his story about refuge on a small Aegean island 🥉Adina Florea for her story about water shortages in north-east Romania
For Ukrainians, joining the EU is existential. “Symbolic membership”, as recently offered, is never going to be enough. “Fast-track accession”, on the other hand, is also not going to happen. What can be done? New ESI newsletter: Vision & interest - Jean Monnet in Ukraine esiweb.org/newsletter/v...
#Thessaloniki's history in one building: Built by Roman Emperor Galerius as temple or mausoleum, then used for 1,200 years as a Byzantine church, including 160 years under Ottoman rule before it was turned into a mosque, then - in 1912 - into a Greek Orthodox Church. Now the "Rotonda" is a museum.
The old town of #Skopje offers many gems to discover, from picturesque side streets to the 1492 Mustafa Pasha mosque. But some, like the old Ottoman caravanserai Kurshumli Han, would really benefit it they were carefully reconstructed and made available to the public.
Apparently Trump can do ANYTHING that strikes his mind, regardless of the consequences. MAGA voters will not desert him.
FT: "Stocks and bonds tumble as oil soars past $100 a barrel" Shouldn't that accelerate moving away from fossil fuels, at least in Europe?
Andreas Treichl, former CEO of @erstebank.bsky.social, exasperates that we still have no joint #capital #market in the EU: Had we one, Trump would be much weaker. By now, leaders agree that we need it, but it’s not happening, b/c we do not allocate the time and staff in EU MoFs to make it happen.
Marie-Helene Ametsreiter of Speedinvest shows graph with US companies founded in last 50 yrs with market capitalization of >10 billion. The little spots on the right side are respective companies in EU! We have no systematic mechanisms to grow them. Time to Decide summit, Vienna, @erstestiftung.org
On this day 70 yrs ago, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white person. Blacks had been arrested for this "offence" before, but Park triggered the 381-day Montgomery bus boycott, leading to a Supreme Court judgement finding the segregated bus seating unconstitutional.
“If people stop identifying with the system, stop believing that there is a better future with this system, we have a problem in democracies”, says Philipp Blom at event on Europe’s future organised by @erstestiftung.org and @stiftunggenshagen.bsky.social in Vienna tonight.
Very interesting debate about #neutrality, #security, and #deterrence in #Vienna. Neutrality does not protect. Look at Belgium, Finland, the Baltics ahead of WWII. We in #Austria urgently need an open and frank debate about Austria‘s enemies, threats and Austria‘s role in Europe‘s defence.
Demonstration in front of #ViennaMigrationConference. Was asked not to attend. I will disagree with a lot that will be said, but how can we contribute to the improvement of #asylum policy if we refuse to talk to politicians of mainstream parties, European Commission, UNHCR, Danish Refugee Council?
In the age of AI, I wonder if the Nobel Foundation should not consider adding a Nobel Prize for courageous machines fighting for universal values. I already have a candidate:
What is needed: Agree on a clear course. Without delay. Communicate plainly what will follow if it happens again. And if it does, act. Words are not enough.
#Albania just opened cluster 4 in its EU accession negotiations.
#EuropeFuture.Forum about to kick off in #Warsaw. Treacherous times - everyone is concerned, sees many challenges we are not prepared for. Yet Central Europe looks so charming and peaceful as it could not change. And yet we know there are a dozen issues which at any moment could change everything.