EN 
NL Political newcomers: wave of change in Eastern Europe?
For years, we have been talking about the rise of nationalism, conservatism and nativism in Europe. Could it be that a countermovement is now emerging there? A number of new leaders in Central and Eastern Europe may be showing a new trend. Want to know more? Read all about it in the piece by our Eastern Europe expert Marina Ohanjanyan!
Elections in Ukraine: All You Need To Know
Ukraine is in the midst of an electoral campaign. Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Petro Poroshenko, who received the biggest number of votes in the first round of presidential elections, are actually close to the finish line. However, the electoral campaign becomes more and more interesting. Candidates focus on show and action, sometimes forgetting about their own programmes and ideas.
What is happening in Ukraine, what is this struggle about and who will win - Vitaliy Tysiachnyi, coordinator of the Social Democratic Platform in Ukraine, explains.
FMS workshops at Labour Party congress in Den Bosch
No better place than the Labour Party Congress on 19 January in Den Bosch - where the list and programme for the European elections were decided - to draw our attention to the EU's neighbours. Foundation Max van der Stoel therefore organised two workshops in Den Bosch on the security situation in Eastern Europe and on EU enlargement towards the Western Balkans. Bert Koenders, Jan Marinus Wiersma and Albanian Ambassador Adia Sakiqi were our guest speakers!
Romania: Corruption index remains almost the same, but EU concerned about rule of law
For a number of years, Romania's anti-corruption prosecution was able to secure resounding convictions. The government has stopped that momentum, trying to muzzle the prosecution and ignoring the independent governing body of the judiciary. However, this does not yet translate into a lower score on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.
A test for Georgia
A fierce campaign raged in Georgia in recent weeks. Yesterday, the second round took place of a presidential election that made it unprecedentedly exciting in the first round: the difference between the winner and the number two was less than 1%. The ruling party, Georgian Dream (GD), is backing an independent candidate, Salome Zurabishvili, against the opposition United National Movement (UNM) candidate, Grigol Vasjadze. The powerful GD threw everything into the fray, resulting in a huge mobilisation. This was also visible: the entire government campaigned and in capital Tbilisi, gigantic posters of Zurabishvili hung everywhere you looked. It worked: some 98% of the votes have now been counted and of these, she has 60% versus Vashadze's 40%.
The situation of refugees in Turkey
After the introduction of the Turkey-EU deal (2016), it seemed that the Syrian refugee crisis was largely over. The news was no longer dominated by images of overcrowded rubber boats filled with people trying to get to the Greek islands from Turkey. Yet the cause of the refugee crisis has not been resolved. The war in Syria continues unabated. In addition, the immediate motivation for those seeking to cross European borders were the poor living conditions in Turkey. In 2018, Turkey has around 4 million refugees. The majority are from Syria, along with people from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and a number of other nationalities, including several African countries. The uncertainty and hopelessness in Turkey was the reason for many to undertake the dangerous and costly journey to 'Fortress Europe'. Has anything changed since then about the situation of refugees in Turkey, two years after the Turkey-EU deal?
Same-sex marriage ban not included in Romanian constitution after all
In a country where an overwhelming majority is conservative Christian and the churches are full, same-sex marriage has little support. Yet it failed to get a ban in the constitution.
Cyber attacks from Russia: no sign of cyber war (yet)
Defence minister Ank Bijleveld stated on 14 October that the Netherlands is engaged in a cyberwar with Russia. It has been in the news regularly since 2015: cyber attacks from Russia in several Western countries. The term war seems exaggerated - after all, no physical damage has been done yet - but the attacks are becoming increasingly brazen. How did it come about, how does it work, and how do we deal with it? On these and other questions, cyber and intelligence expert Andrei Soldatov and Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat spoke at the Rode Hoed in Amsterdam.
First test for new government in Armenia
Last Sunday, local elections took place in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. This would not normally be big news, were it not for the fact that these were the first elections since the peaceful revolution in the country earlier this year. AND the fact that some 40% of all voters live in the capital. This election was therefore seen as a first real test for the post-revolutionary government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinjan. Especially since after taking office in May, following massive protests led by him, he set early parliamentary elections as one of his priorities. These, he said, will take place before May 2019. The Yerevan elections were thus a milestone because they would provide preliminary answers to two crucial questions: is the country indeed freer and more democratic than before, and can the newly-elected Prime Minister still count on the massive support of his people in the early parliamentary elections?
Worries for the Kremlin?
In the past weeks, thousands of people have protested in different cities across Russia against the pension reform plans announced by the Kremlin. The protests climaxed on September 9, the day of the regional elections, with nationwide rallies called for by opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who himself had been put in jail just two weeks beforehand. Protesters at the rallies, held in 33 cities, shouted slogans like 'Putin is a thief' and 'Away with the tsar.' State police arrested, sometimes violently, and jailed more than 1,000 people, of whom 452 in St Petersburg alone. While protests in Russia are not uncommon, it seems that this time they have the Kremlin worried and looking for ways to win the public back.