The Future of Belarus in Europe

Panels and Discussions
Metadata
Katherine Younger
Wojciech Przybylski
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Christian Ultsch, Franak Viačorka
VIRTUAL, Stream
Program
Europe’s Futures
Ukraine in European Dialogue

Visegrad Insight and Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) organized a special event on the occasion of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya's visit to Austria

What is the place of Belarus on the Western political agenda? How does the current situation impinge on future cooperation?


Over the past year Belarus has made its mark on Europeans’ mental map as a country with a vibrant civil society and the potential for democratic change. Aliaksandr Lukashenka’s authoritarian regime, in power for the last 27 years, has thwarted every attempt at change. He lost the presidential election in August 2020 and is holding society hostage domestically. He has also begun to threaten the EU. Unprecedented pressure is being put on the European block through the weaponization of refugees and migrants from MENA countries, who are brought on purpose to the borders of the EU by the regime.
The European Union is seeking ways to respond to this most serious of challenges. That response entails weighing risks and opportunities for the future of the continent. What will the future hold for Belarus in Europe?

Agenda

Keynote Lecture by Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya

Panel Discussion

Franak Viačorka, Foreign Policy Advisor to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya
Christian Ultsch, Foreign Editor at Die Presse
Katherine Younger, Research Director "Ukraine in European Dialogue", IWM
Moderated by Wojciech Przybylski, Editor-in-Chief Visegrad Insight and Europe’s Futures Fellow

Partnership

Organized under the auspices of the “Europe’s Futures – Ideas for Action” project, IWM’s strategic partnership initiative with the ERSTE Foundation.

Note:
Since the summer of 2020, the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) has been following the developments in Belarus by creating a blog called Chronicle from Belarus. There are very few foreign journalists in Belarus as the Lukashenko government has repeatedly refused to grant press visas and closed the borders. The Chronicle is an archive of curated materials from a wide variety of sources, including first-person testimonies. Numerous contributions from Russian, Belarusian, Ukrainian and Polish were translated into English or German and thus made available to a broader public.