26-27 november 2018 Berlin
In Search of Lost Universalism
Association of Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe
Association of Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe
Two things are important in life – purpose and meaning; however, citizenship and public welfare simply provide the necessary conditions for them. If one thinks about this properly, a modern civic society isn't the worst place we can live our lives in, as long as the will to improve our way of life has not been extinguished.
CIVIC EDUCATION
What is it that renders most vulnerable all people in the world today? Is it the threat of nuclear war, of global warming, of corruption, of terrorism or of disease?
We are wary in the face of these dangers, and we strive to avert the risks with the help of science, legislation, international organization, co-operation programmes and so on. Hence deliberations on civic education are inevitable.
When creating the Moscow School of Political Studies over 25 years ago (labelled a «foreign agent» in Russia, the School continues to exist as the School of Civic Education) we did not as yet realize that one could not part with freedom onсe experienced. However it has always been clear to us that freedom requires knowledge of civilization and of civics.
Civics is creation of a world, which includes contribution of every one of us. Or, in other words, it is a mode of being, it is opening up vistas of self-fulfillment, which is no less important than a profession. It is practising the complexity of modern life in a democracy.
Therein lies the meaning of this School — that of enlightenment, civic education and nurturing a citizen as a free and responsible personality. We are serving this purpose when we co-organize the annual international forum in Berlin under the patronage of the Association of Schools of Political Studies under the Council of Europe — «In Search of Lost Universalism».
The main purpose of the Association is to help young people (primarily, people from post-Soviet countries) grow in understanding of the importance of the rule of law and of its main support — the civil society.
This is our appeal and answer to the question as to what we depend on most: «Trust not ban! Freedom and security for the sake of children!».
In addition to presentations by the leading Russian and European experts the Forum will host presentations of civic initiatives developed in the framework of the Advanced-2018 programme.
Lena Nemirovskaya
Yuri Senokosov
ABOUT THE FORUM
In search of lost universalism is a major civic Forum which starts from the presumption that there are many cultures – but one civilisation based on human rights, freedom, the rule of law and democracy. That civilisation needs to be constantly refreshed by conscious action and projects.
After the devastation caused by the Second World War, important new international organizations were founded, including the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the World Council of Churches, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, etc. A universal perception of justice emerged, reflected in key international documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the European Social Charter, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Citizens in Europe and around the world were empowered by this universal energy and the civic spirit became embodied in the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto, which laid the foundation in 1957 for the Pugwash movement. The Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs is still active today as a forum for scientists working for peace. The Manifesto also led to the Non-Aligned Movement (1961) and to the formation in 1968 of the Club of Rome, also concerned with global problems. The same ethos underpins the Helsinki Final Act at the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (1975), the signing of the Maastricht Treaty (1992), and the establishment of the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights in 1999.
The same spirit is behind the civic Forum In search of lost universalism. Organised by the Association of the Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe at the initiative of the founders of the Moscow School of Political Studies, Lena Nemirovskaya and Yury Senokossov, the Forum is supported by important European institutions and think tanks.
The Forum brings together leading cultural figures, experts, representatives of European think tanks, international journalists and alumni of the Schools, from more than 30 countries, to address key democratic challenges facing Europe today and suggest ways to promote solidarity among young people to combat the current crisis.
The Forum marks the beginning of a mission: to spread the ideals of civic society, the practice of discussing and teaching them, and to promote what Jean Monnet called “a civilized state of mind”.
The Forum is designed to rejuvenate the spirit of global civics and to support global civic education.
We invite you to be part of that project.
PROGRAMME
Monday, November 26th
9.00 - 10.00 Opening
Lena Nemirovskaya, Founder, Moscow School of Civic Education
Address by Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Address by Catherine Lalumièrre, Secretary General, Council of Europe (1989-1994)
Address by René Nyberg, Diplomat, Author, Former CEO East Office
10.00 - 10.30 Marco Politi, Author, journalist
Pope Francis: caring about the Common Home
10.30 - 11.00 Coffee-break
11.00 - 13.00 Panel I
Today: Politics, Civics
Moderator: Kadri Liik
Panelists: Thomas Gomart, Ambassador Löjdquist, Mikhail Minakov
13.00 - 13.30 Coffee-break
13.30 - 14.30 Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert, Chairman, Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung
14.30 - 15.30 Lunch
15.30 - 17.30 Panel II
Today: Climate, Migration, Refugees
Moderator: Mikhail Fishman
Panelists: Guri Bang, Despina Syrri, Svetlana Gannushkina
17.30 - 18.00 Coffee break
18.00 - 20.00 Panel III
Today: Economy, Fight with corruption
Moderator: Quentin Peel
Panelists: Jacek Rostowski, Fredrik Erixon, Elena Panfilova
20.30 Dinner
Tuesday, November 27th
9.15 - 10.00 Opening
Moderator: Mikhail Fishman
Yury Senokosov, Founder, Moscow School of Civic Education
Alexander Arkhangelsky, Journalist, TV Anchor, Author
10.00–12.00 Future is now
Moderator: Mikhail Fishman
Panelists: Ambassador O’Donnell, Barbara von Ow-Freytag, Elena Zhemkova, Stefan Melle, Vytis Jurkonis
12.00 - 13.00 Coffee break
13.00–17.00 Advanced Programme: Projects
Launch
Mikhail Minakov
Moderator: Alexander Shmelev
13.00 - 14.30 Focus: Civil Society Against Corruption
#WillGodForgiveCorruptionists
Confessions Against Corruption
Discussion
14.30 - 15.00 Coffee break
15.00 - 15.45 Focus: Civiс Diplomacy
Rethinking Our History - Esimde
Center For Conflict Analysis
and Transformation
Discussion
15.45 - 16.30 Focus: Civiс Education
Listening to Our Children
Freedom and Safety for Children
Discussion
16.30 - 17.10 Coffee break
17.10 - 18.00 Closing remarks by
Michael Mertes
Andrey Kolesnikov
Yury Senokosov
18.00 - 19.00 Buffet
Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed nonage. Nonage is the inability to use one's own understanding without another's guidance. This nonage is self-imposed if its cause lies not in lack of understanding but in indecision and lack of courage to use one's own mind without another's guidance. Sapere aude! "Have the courage to use your own understanding", is therefore the motto of the enlightenment.
EXPERTS
Lena Nemirovskaya
Russia
Founder, Moscow School of Civic Education, Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Officer of the French National Order of Merit, Officer of the Medal Bene Merito of the Republic of Poland, Chevalier of the Order of Merit of the Republic of France
Yury Senokosov
Russia
Founder and Director of publishing programs, Moscow School of Civic Education. Worked for the Main Library of Social Sciences, Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences, “Questions of Philosophy” magazine, published a series of books under the title From the history of Russian philosophical thought. Editor-in-chief to Obschaya Tetrad quarterly journal.
Hakan Altinay
Turkey
President of the Global Civics Academy, author of the book Global Civics. Responsibilities and Rights in an Interdependent World, Director of the European School of Politics in Istanbul.
Ania Ankowska
United Kingdom
International Board Member, former vice-president of Anti-Corruption International
PhD candidate and Research Assistant at Northumbria University, Newcastle University, area of research: accountability and transparency of new modes of governance
co-Founding member and former vice-President of Anti-Corruption International;
Youth representative to the Council of Europe, member of Youth and Human Rights Expert Group at European Youth Forum, co-founder of Youth to Youth Initiative
Alexander Arkhangelsky
Russia
Journalist, writer, tenured Professor and member of the Academic Council at the Higher School of Economy in Moscow
Yassine Bakkar
France
Fellow, Economics Research Centre, University of Limoges
Pilar Bonet
Spain
Correspondent, El País
Irina Borogan
Russia
Investigative Journalist, Author, Co-founder and Editor of the Agentura.Ru web site, author of books (with Andrey Soldatov) "New patriot games. How secret services have been changing their skin", "PSI Handbook of Global Security and Intelligence: National Approaches", "The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB", " The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries"
Christopher Coker
United Kingdom
Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Head of Department, author of books The Future of War: The Re-Enchantment of War in the Twenty-First Century, Humane Warfare, Twilight Of The West, and many others
Daniel Dettling
Germany
Head, Zukunftspolitik
Atje Drexler
Germany
Head of Department of International Relations Europe and its Neighbours, Robert Bosch Stiftung
Vitaly Dymarsky
Russia
Lead editor of Echo of Petersburg
Mikhail Fishman
Russia
Editor-in-chief at The Moscow Times, Internet TV Rain anchor
Floriana Fossato
United Kingdom
Journalist and media critic, University College London
Nikolay Epple
Russia
Editorial Board Member and Observer, Vedomosti daily
Alvaro Gil-Robles
Spain
President, Foundation Valsaín, Commissioner for Human Rights of Council of Europe (1999 to 2006)
Thomas Gomart
France
Director of the Russia/NIS Center, IFRI (Institut français des relations internationales)
Matjaž Gruden
Council of Europe
Director of Political Planning, Council of Europe
Olga Gulina
Germany
Director and Founder, Institute on Migration Policy
Jack Hanning
Council of Europe
Secretary - General of the European Association of Schools of Political Studies
Vladislav Inozemtsev
Russia
Economist, political writer, director at the Centre for Post-Industrial Studies, author of books The lost decade and many others
Sylvie Kauffmann
France
Journalist, Editorial Director, Le Monde, contributing opinion writer for The International New York Times
Andrey Kolesnikov
Russia
Senior Associate and Chair, Carnegie Moscow Center’s Russian Domestic Politics and Political Institutions Program; journalist, author of books "Unknown Chubais", "Speechwriters" and others
Ivan Krastev
Bulgaria
Chairman of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia; Permanent fellow at the IWM Institute of Human Sciences in Vienna, author of books Democracy Disrupted: The Politics of Global Protest, In Mistrust We Trust: Can Democracy Survive When We Don’t Trust Our Leaders?, The Anti-American Century, and many others
Sergei Lagodinsky
Germany
Head of the EU/North America Department, Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin
Catherine Lalumière
France
Secretary General of the Council of Europe (1989 to 1994); President, Association of the Schools of Political Studies of the Council of Europe
Sonja Licht
Serbia
Founder and president, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, member of Foreign Affairs Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kadri Liik
Estonia
Senior policy fellow at ECFR, European Council on Foreign Relations
Bobo Lo
United Kingdom
Associate Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Programme, Chatham House; author of the book “Russia and the New World Disorder”
John Lloyd
United Kingdom
Contributing Editor, The Financial Times
Fedor Lukianov
Russia
Chief-editor, Russia in Global World magazine;Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy; Research Director of the Valdai International Discussion Club
Stefan Melle
Germany
Director, German-Russian Exchange, EU-Russia Civil Society Forum
Michael Mertes
Germany
German chief officer, political advisor to Chancellor Helmut Kohl (1987 - 1998), author of books In Search of Germany, German Questions – European Answers, and others
Mikhail Minakov
Ukraine
Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; Editor-in-chief, Ideology and Politics Journal; President, Foundation for Good Politics
Indra Øverland
Norway
Head, Energy Programme, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI); Research Professor, University of Nordland
Emil Pain
Russia
Director general, Center for Ethno-political and regional research
Quentin Peel
United Kingdom
Long time editor and correspondent at The Financial Times, Mercator Senior Fellow, Europe Programme, Chatham House
Nikolay Petrov
Russia
Political analyst, political geographer, co-author of books Russia in 2020: Scenarios for the Future, Between Dictatorship and Democracy: Russian Post-Communist Political Reform, The State of Russia: What Comes Next?
Ruprecht Polenz
Germany
Member of German Bundestag; Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (2005 to 2013)
Elena Panfilova
Russia
Chairperson of the Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiative Transparency International, the Russian chapter of Transparency International;Director of Transparency International
Diana Pinto
France
Historian, writer, author of the book Between two worlds
Kirill Rogov
Russia
Political observer, columnist at Vedomosti, Forbes–Russia, and Novaya Gazeta
Irina Scherbakova
Russia
Head of the educational programs of the International Society Memorial
Jutta Scherrer
Germany-France
Historian, author, professor of Russian History at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales
Lev Schlossberg
Russia
MP, Pskov Regional Duma; Chairman of the Pskov regional branch, Member of the Federal Political Committee of the Political Party Yabloko; Human Rights Activist
Roman Shleinov
Russia
Investigative Journalist, Member at International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
Daniel Smilov
Bulgaria
Programme Director at the Centre for Liberal Strategies, Sofia
Alexander Sogomonov
Russia
Leading research fellow, Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Michael Sohlman
Sweden
Chairman of the Swedish Institute for Foreign Policy; Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Executive director, Nobel Foundation (1992 to 2011)
Andrey Soldatov
Russia
Investigative Journalist, Russian Secret Service Expert; Author, Co-Founder and Editor of the Agentura.Ru web site, author of books (with Irina Borogan) "New patriot games. How secret services have been changing their skin", "PSI Handbook of Global Security and Intelligence: National Approaches", "The New Nobility: The Restoration of Russia's Security State and the Enduring Legacy of the KGB", " The Red Web: The Struggle Between Russia's Digital Dictators and the New Online Revolutionaries"
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Germany
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Andrzej Szeptycki
Poland
Associate Professor, Section of European Integration, Institute of international relations, University of Warsaw
Yulia Taratuta
Russia
Chief editor at Slon magazine, TV-anchor at internet TV Rain
Sylke Tempel
Germany
Editor in chief, Internationale Politik
Diana Cosmina Trifu
Romania
Fellow, Centre for Advanced Research in Management and Applied Ethics; Integration counsellor with Schottener Foundation Social Services
Maxim Trudolyubov
Russia
Russia and Eastern Europe correspondent, columnist, Vedomosti daily, author of The Russia File blog for the Kennan Institute, chief editor at the OTetrad.ru, columnist of The New York Times, author of People Behind the Fence: Private Space, Power and Property in Russia, Me and My Country: A Common Cause, co-author of The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain and Roots of Russia’s War in Ukraine
Vasily Zharkov
Russia
Program Director, Head of the International Politics Master’s Program, The Moscow School of Social and Economic Studies
VENUE
ARCHIVE
Anatoly Mikhailov. On the responsibility of an intellectual
Crucial time/critical state. Panel discussion
A road map for salvation. Panel discussion. Part 1
A road map for salvation. Panel discussion. Part 2
John Lloyd
Panel discussion "War and Peace".
Christopher Coker, Nikolay Petrov, Fedor Lukyanov, Andrey Kolesnikov
Christopher Coker, Nikolay Petrov, Fedor Lukyanov, Andrey Kolesnikov
Panel discussion "Perpetual peace, rule of law and civic education".
Vasily Zharkov, Stephan Melle, Pilar Bonet, Vytis Jurkonis
Vasily Zharkov, Stephan Melle, Pilar Bonet, Vytis Jurkonis
Panel discussion "Politics of memory and history".
Irina Scherbakova, Jutta Scherrer, Diana Pinto
Irina Scherbakova, Jutta Scherrer, Diana Pinto
Panel discussion "Security versus Freedom".
Andrey Soldatov, Irina Borogan, John Lloyd, Lev Gershenzon, Ben Wagner
Andrey Soldatov, Irina Borogan, John Lloyd, Lev Gershenzon, Ben Wagner
Panel discussion. Morals and ethics: the second life of nationalism and migration.
Nikolay Epple, Daniel Smilov, Diana Cosmina Trifu, Mikhail Minakov, Olga Gulina
Nikolay Epple, Daniel Smilov, Diana Cosmina Trifu, Mikhail Minakov, Olga Gulina
Panel discussion. Corruption: a moral or a system problem?
Roman Shleinov, Anna Ankowska, Yassine Bakkar, Indra Overland, Elena Panfilova
Roman Shleinov, Anna Ankowska, Yassine Bakkar, Indra Overland, Elena Panfilova
Welcome speeches.
Michael Sohlman, Lev Schlossberg, Ruprecht Polenz, Alvaro Gil-Robles
Michael Sohlman, Lev Schlossberg, Ruprecht Polenz, Alvaro Gil-Robles
Civilisation. Universal values and global interests.
Introduction speech by Ivan Krastev.
Introduction speech by Ivan Krastev.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Welcome speech.
Yuri Senokosov
Lena Nemirovskaya
Catherine Lalumière
Matjaž Gruden
PRESS AREA
IN SEARCH OF LOST ENLIGHTENMENT
Par: Sylvie Kauffmann|LE MONDE | 31.10.2015 à 10h58 • Mis à jour le 31.10.2015 à 10h59
It is no longer the East versus the West. It is no longer the North versus the South. The cleavage, which fractures Europe today, contraposes universalism and self-isolation. History, the end of which American political scientist Francis Fukuyama, inebriated by the end of the Cold War, announced some twenty years ago, has since then restarted. Universalism is again in danger: the Russians tell you that — and they know full well what they are talking about.
To communicate this message to their European friends these particular Russians had to leave their country. The Germans – them again ! – have extended them welcome. It is the Russians, in a sudden turn of events, who are imploring the West not to give up on the heritage of the Enlightenment.
This episode, so revealing of a somewhat disoriented Europe, has unfolded this week in Berlin, at the premises of Robert Bosch Foundation. In the spirit of philanthropy and political non-engagement the Foundation hosted, for two days, a seminar of the Moscow School of Civic Education. Why Berlin and not Moscow? To understand this one has to retrace the time to 1992, to the kitchen of a Moscow apartment.
In Russia many ideas were born exactly in these small rooms where people tried to evade the omnipresent state by gathering around a kitchen table and debating without end. Towards the end of the Soviet era the kitchen of well-established Moscow intellectuals Lena Nemirovskaya and Yuri Senokossov swarmed with people. Today Lena, an art historian, and her husband Yuri, who is a philosopher, lament that the new Russian elites are utterly devoid of democratic culture. While the Russian state, heir to the USSR, is ill-suited to disseminate it.
Thus developed the idea of an NGO whose purpose it was to organize seminars in the interest of young decision makers, to familiarize them with the basics of a liberal society. Or, to offer « enlightened civic education to the civil society », said Lena Nemirovskaya. Moscow School of Political Studies saw the light of day in 1993, under President Yeltsin. To date some 20 000 young professionals from Russia's regions have passed through its seminars.
FOREIGN AGENTS
Financing arrived from those who believed in the usefulness of the mission: the indispensable George Soros, the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovski (before he was thrown into prison), then the Council of Europe, of which Russia at the time was not yet a member. Many European governments have also shown generosity to the project. It ended in 2012, when President Putin demanded that all NGOs receiving financing from abroad be registered as « foreign agents ». In December of 2014 the School of Political Studies, renamed by the time into the Moscow School of Civic Education, fell into the list of « foreign agents ».
Operating in Russia under such conditions became rather difficult; most foreign NGOs have folded. However the Moscow School served as a model; starting from 2005, under the guidance of the Council of Europe a network of some twenty kindred Schools of political studies has emerged, from Belarus in the North to Tunisia in the South.
Lena Nemirovskaya resolved to stay firm in her mission of civic education of the Russians. And so with the aid of the Council of Europe, and institutions like the Bosch Foundation, the Institute of Humanities of Vienna or the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs the school has continued with its assemblies abroad. In Tbilisi, in Berlin, in Oxford... The students, necessarily, are less numerous. But the school still keeps up the flame.
DEMONS OF THE 20th CENTURY
The paradox today is that this flame may also weaken outside of the post-Soviet space: it wavers exactly in those liberal democracies, which inspired the Moscow School twenty years ago. Thus the ideas of Enlightenment acquire sudden urgency. In Berlin all participants without exception, from East and West, North and South expressed the same concern.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister who walked from his neighbourhood office to open the conference, talked of optimism, albeit in the past tense: the optimism « we were full of » twenty years ago, which has survived « the horror of the Balkan wars », but is no longer the order of the day. « Today the European order is put in question », the chief of German diplomacy expressed his concern. « More than a political crisis, annexation of the Crimea is a violation of international law and dangerous precedent. »
Catherine Lalumière, former Secretary General of the Council of Europe posited the retreat of « the humanist philosophy » in the face of « gradual, surreptitious emergence of a different political philosophy ». The spirit of openness, which lay basis for the European project, is menaced by « the spirit of secretiveness, isolationism, egotism and absence of solidarity ».
A Russian participant expressed the idea that the standoff is no longer between two systems of values, but « between a system of values and absence of values ». It is between politicians who accept the rules and those who reject the rules, whichever the country. Another participant said he did not understand how the EU, a community of 500 million people, could possibly fail to accomodate 1 million refugees. A French public figure seemed to echo this in two days, expressing an anxiety for Europe, where « Germany that wished, in an act of generosity, to wash off the XXth century is trapped again by the demons of the XXth century ».
« I do not believe the world is as gloomy as you describe, mused ironically Solomon Guinzbourg, a local Russian MP: I think it is far worse. » It is a world that menaces « to put us back into our kitchens, thirty years later », added a Ukrainian university professor, Mikhail Minakov.
SYLVIE KAUFFMANN
Journaliste au Monde
EN BUSCA DE LA EUROPA PERDIDA
Por: Pilar Bonet | 05.11.2015
La Escuela de Estudios Políticos de Moscú (EEPM) ha comenzado una nueva etapa en Berlín.
Fundada en 1992 por la historiadora de arte Lena Nemiróvskaya, y su esposo, el filósofo Yuri Senokósov, la escuela fue una ampliación de la cocina de la pareja, escenario de animados debates entre interlocutores de muy diversas culturas y procedencias. La fórmula de la EEPM ha sido adoptada por 21 instituciones que integran la Asociación de Escuelas de Estudios Políticos del Consejo de Europa. Hay escuelas en Ucrania, Bielorrusia, Grecia, Serbia, Croacia, Turquía e incluso Marruecos y Túnez, entre otros países, pero las fisuras crecientes en la gran Europa amenazan los vínculos entre ellas. De ahí que "la búsqueda del universalismo perdido" (como oposición a los retornos a las tribus) fuera el lema el seminario celebrado en Berlín el 28 y el 29 de octubre en la sede de la fundación Robert Bosch con la participación de más de 160 personas procedentes de Rusia y de otros países europeos.
Desde 1992 la EEPM ha promovido la sociedad civil y el espíritu crítico, y ha sido un foro de diálogo entre políticos e intelectuales extranjeros y rusos. Por los seminarios que se celebraban Rusia y en el extranjero han pasado centenares de jóvenes de los Estados de la ex URSS, muchos de los cuales llegaron a puestos de gran responsabilidad.
Financiada sobre todo por becas occidentales y filántropos como George Soros, la escuela fue obligada a identificarse "agente extranjero" de acuerdo con la nueva legislación para Organizaciones no Gubernamentales aprobada en 2012. La etiqueta "agente extranjero", que evoca el vocabulario de la época estalinista, es asociada con espionaje o actividades hostiles por el ciudadano de a pie en Rusia. Atendiendo a las recomendaciones disuasivas de los servicios de seguridad, las élites de provincias, que antes acogían con curiosidad e interés a la EEPM, pasaron a temer el contacto con la escuela y con sus expertos internacionales, a menudo reconocidas autoridades académicas, como por ejemplo Robert Skydelsky el biógrafo de Jon Manard Keynes.
Sin empresarios rusos que se atrevan a financiarla y reacia a aceptar la etiqueta de "agente extranjero", la EEPM clausuró en diciembre de 2014 sus actividades en Rusia, pero mantiene sus seminarios en el extranjero. El desafío con el que se enfrenta hoy es el de constituirse en uno de los pilares de esa necesaria "red de seguridad" cuya misión es asegurar el flujo de contactos e ideas en el interior de la gran Europa, ahora que ésta se ve sacudida por diversas crisis, que en conjunto abocan a una gran crisis global. En la UE, el rechazo a los refugiados crea un conflicto entre los intereses y los valores proclamados por el Consejo de Europa. En Rusia, los dirigentes justifican el autoritarismo y la trasgresión de las reglas con construcciones artificiales y arcaicas. La amenaza en ambas partes es el "otro", lo que en Rusia significa las ideas que socavan el orden político y, en la UE, los emigrantes que socavan el orden económico y social.
"El encuentro es muy oportuno" porque "el mundo está atravesando una época de gran turbulencia y naciones enteras al igual que individuos están a menudo desorientados e incluso Europa parece estar perdiendo sus puntos de referencia, sus valores", dijo en Berlín Catherine Lalumière, ex secretaria general del Consejo de Europa y presidenta de la Asociación de Escuelas de Estudios Políticos. Según Lalumière, el concepto de derechos humanos se ve torpedeado por el autoritarismo, el materialismo y el ultra nacionalismo, pese a ser un valor protegido por la ley e incorporado en las instituciones creadas después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial.
En su intervención, el Ministro de Exteriores de Alemania, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, comparó la situación actual con la época en la que fue fundada la EEPM, tras la caída del muro de Berlín y el fin de la Guerra Fría, cuando imperaba el optimismo sobre una Europa unida y libre pese a la guerra de los Balcanes. Quiso el ministro marcar un corte entre un antes y un después. "La "anexión de Crimea fue más que una crisis política, fue una trasgresión de la ley internacional y un precedente", dijo el jefe de la diplomacia alemana, quien, acto seguido, invitó a ir "más allá del monólogo recriminatorio" para poner las bases "que ayudarán a los políticos a negociar soluciones".
El politólogo búlgaro Iván Krastev llamó la atención sobre el cambio de perspectiva, desde la época en que la apertura y los contactos se vivían como positivos y el problema era como formalizar la globalización, y la actualidad, cuando el problema es cómo manejar la reacción negativa a la globalización. Los modelos cosmopolitas son percibidos como amenaza y no como oportunidad, señaló. Por su parte, Sonja Licht, de Serbia, dijo que la desigualdad en el mundo es mayor que nunca como resultado de las prácticas neoliberales que marginan los valores como la solidaridad. Las instituciones y los Estados carecen de estrategias sobre temas como los refugiados y el cambio climático, por lo cual la única respuesta es involucrar a los ciudadanos en una idea global de la ciudadanía, afirmó Licht. El problema, reconoció, es como pasar del "ciudadano ilustrado" a la "acción mediante la política".
A diferencia del Estado soviético, Rusia no se ofrece al mundo como un modelo alternativo, sino que entiende el poder de gran potencia como un poder "para transgredir las normas", afirmó Mijaíl Fishman, comentarista del canal de televisión ruso Dozhd. El líder ruso Vladímir Putin aspira a formar parte de una "troika de los transgresores de normas" junto con EEUU y China, opinó Bobo Lo, de Chatham House, en Londres. Según Lo, Putin está decidido a promover los intereses rusos por todos los medios y donde quiera que sea necesario. El escritor Alexandr Arjángelski quiso distinguir entre la Rusia política, que recurre al pasado para afirmarse, y la cultura rusa, que es europea y que está viva al margen del Estado, también en otros países de Europa. Mijaíl Minakov, de la Academia Kiev-Mogiliansk de Ucrania, insistió en que sólo la verdad permite luchar contra la propaganda, a lo que el politólogo ruso Andréi Kolésnikov, contestó que únicamente un lector muy preparado puede "encontrar la verdad en el ruido informativo". Nikolái Petrov, experto en regiones de la Escuela Superior de Economía de Moscú, abogó por la estrategia de las "pequeñas cosas" para construir una carcasa de sociedad civil.
El foro de Berlín fue una apuesta por la apertura y la educación para la ciudadanía. "Ha sido una iniciativa para lanzar un debate sobre el futuro, para repensar donde estamos y no solo lamentar la universalidad perdida", dijo Licht. Mientras los intelectuales debatían entre ellos en la capital alemana, en el continente continuaba la construcción de nuevos muros y a las barreras físicas se les unían nuevas fragmentaciones, la última el cese de las comunicaciones aéreas entre Ucrania y Rusia, una medida que multiplica la duración de trayecto entre los dos vecinos, pero sobre todo la distancia psicológica entre ellos.
We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us.