With intense financial support from Moscow and deepening economic ties with the Russian market, Abkhazia has a chance to be reborn after the devastating war with Georgia in 1992/1993.

Prior to the 11. Annual Foreign Policy Conference, we offer suggestions in this matter for a green policy towards the Eastern neighbors of the EU, different views and possible strategies.

The world has been rocked by the most major financial and economic crisis in recent history. This exposed several aspects of financial system dysfunction. These not only increased the instability of the financial markets but also impeded their normal functioning as tools to allocate economic resources efficiently throughout the real economy. A lecture held by

Environmental protection is a hot discussed topic in industrialized countries, especially in Europe, whereas in developing countries such as Afghanistan this issue is not very popular due to poverty, war and the daily struggle to survive.

In May 2010, the Heinrich-Böll-Foundation and the Democratization Policy Council organized a policy roundtable in Berlin: “How to stop Bosnia and Herzegovina from further deteriorating? Time for a new transatlantic initiative”. The expert meeting brought together policy makers and analysts from Europe and America, including representatives from international organizations in Bosnia, with their counterparts from Germany.

Shortly after a new ruling coalition formed Slovakia’s new center-right government, a small shock wave rolled through Europe. First the Slovak government and then parliament voted to withhold Slovakia’s share of a European bailout loan for Greece’s embattled economy. Not that Slovakia’s minute share of the package would mean a lot for the eurozone – the decision’s importance lay in its symbolism and, therefore, in politics.

Ukraine is an eastern outpost for the West and a western threshold of Europe for the East. The country needs strategic thinking today, and the EU’s Eastern Partnership can help achieve this.

The European Union’s need for improved policy toward its eastern neighbors is increasing. To date, however, neither the European Union nor its member states have found a sustainable strategic approach to developments in the European neighborhood.

There are two alternatives - either gradual convergence of the EU’s and Russia’s policies toward the countries, or a new period of competition. Then we could get an answer to the question of whether the EP can be a uniting platform for new relations between Russia and the EU, or whether it will be a source of discord?

To open up with the conclusion of this piece: The short war between Russian and Georgian forces in 2008 has not altered the strategic landscape of Europe. Rather, the clash has cleared the air from the smog of illusionary rhetoric about a new order for the continent. After the fact, the realities of power and dependence, of cooperation and conflict, the dilemmas of order and principle have become more obvious and debatable.