Platform and bridge
In Sofia, signs of the long arcs that the Arab and European worlds have to travel.
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Sat, May 26 2012
Sofia Platform meeting
Photo: Nadezhda Chipeva
Amid yet more upheaval in the Arab and North African world, international leaders and key figures from Central and Eastern Europe gathered in the Bulgarian capital to discuss whether – and how – the lessons of the transition from the communist era could help bring positive change to the troubled region.
Organised by Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry and the European Council on Foreign Relations, the Sofia Platform two-day discussions, starting May 5, included addresses by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, veterans of the change in Eastern Europe and by those caught up in the current turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa.
Organised by Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry and the European Council on Foreign Relations, the Sofia Platform two-day discussions, starting May 5, included addresses by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, veterans of the change in Eastern Europe and by those caught up in the current turbulence in the Middle East and North Africa.
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Europe can offer Arab Spring lessons, not models – Swedish FM Bildt
The European Union can offer deep and comprehensive free trade agreements and access to EU's customs union, but immediate economic crisis must be dealt with by IMF, Bildt says.
Sofia Platform: Avoiding Eastern Europe's pitfalls in political institutions reform
Quick reforms and simple political systems are the recipe for transition success, former Bulgarian prime minister Philip Dimitrov tells Sofia Platform panel.
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The age of impunity is dead, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon tells the Sofia Platform, saying that the UN will be ‘impartial but not neutral’ in being firm against gross violations of human rights.
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Sofia platform
Can the lessons of Central and Eastern Europe help the ‘Arab spring’ become a glorious summer?
Don’t repeat post-communist Europe’s organised crime, corruption mistakes, Arab world told
Bulgarian political analyst Ognyan Minchev tells Sofia Platform that it is essential to preserve a middle-class to ensure a modernised state where corruption and organised crime are deviations from the norm instead of the norm.
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A key difference between the events of the Arab spring of 2011 and the velvet revolutions of 1989 was the support given by Western Europe to regime change on its borders, panellists say.
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The European Union should revisit not just its neighbourhood and Mediterranean policy but its whole relationship with the rest of the world, Hungarian foreign minister tells international conference on transitions in Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa.
Bulgarian PM spells out vision for EU policy on ‘Arab Spring’
Boiko Borissov urges North Africa and Middle East to speed reform of judicial systems to avoid being in the position of Bulgaria, still subject to monitoring about fixing its court system.
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