JHS seminar: “Why was Georgia denied EU candidate status?”
Today the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation held the seminar “Why was Georgia denied EU candidate status?” with speakers Ambassador Zurab Tchiaberashvili, Dr. Thornike Gordadze and Dr. Sergi Kapanadze. The seminar was moderated by Anna Maria Corazza Bildt.
The three representatives of the Georgian civil society visiting Stockholm gave their first-hand experience of the situation in Georgia. The main focus was the deepening polarization, deteriorating health condition of former President Saakashvili and the decreased media freedom.
The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation Calendar 2023
The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation publishes a 2023 calendar with pictures from the Swedish election campaign 2022. Representatives from our sister parties visited during august and september to learn more about the elections and to be part of the campaign activities all over the country.
Feel free to download it here:
https://www.hjalmarsonstiftelsen.se/wp-content/uploads/JHS-Calendar-2023.pdf
Why sanctions on Russia are working
The Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation publishes a report on sanctions towards Russia. The report is written by the Russian opposition politician Vladimir Milov.
In the report, Why sanctions on Russia are working, Mr. Milov states that patience is needed in order for western sanctions to have the best possible impact. The Russian economy is slowly but surely collapsing, and even though Putin’s temporary trade with countries such as Turkey, China, India and in Central Asian are helping Russia to circumvent the western sanctions at the moment, it will not be able to save the economy in the long run.
To read the report, please use the following link:
https://www.hjalmarsonstiftelsen.se/wp-content/uploads/Milov-Sanctions-on-Russia-are-working..pdf
Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza awarded with the 2022 Václav Havel Prize
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by PACE, in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, “to honour outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond”.
The 60,000-euro prize was presented at a special ceremony on the opening day of the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg.
Vladimir Kara-Murza who has been a consistent critic of the Russian government, and co-founder of the Russian Anti-War Committee established to oppose Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was awarded with the prize.
Presenting the award, PACE President Tiny Kox, who chaired the selection panel, said: “Despite the risks, Vladimir Kara-Murza had the courage to return to his country to continue his fight, even while having the possibility to stay safe. It takes incredible courage in today’s Russia to stand against the power in place. Today, Mr Kara-Murza is showing this courage, from his prison cell.”
Swedish center-right leader Ulf Kristersson claims election win
The Moderate party’s opposition leader Ulf Kristersson claimed victory Wednesday evening in Sweden’s general election after three days of vote counting resulted in a narrow three-seat advantage for his side.
“We have an election result, we have the mandate for change we asked for,” Moderate Party leader Kristersson said as the result was announced. “I will now begin the process of forming a new government for Sweden and all its citizens.”
Outgoing premier Magdalena Andersson conceded defeat. She said she would resign as prime minister on Thursday, but remain leader of the Social Democrats in opposition.
Ulf Kristersson now faces a fresh challenge to stitch together a functioning government from the disparate group of allies that back him to lead Sweden.
Several members of UCP leadership detained in Belarus
Some days ago, the leader of UCP party in Belarus Mikalai Kazlou was once again detained in Belarus. This time the former UCP vice chair Antanina Kavaliova and the regional chair of UCP in the Minsk region Aksana Alyakseeva, were detained together with him.
This follows months of increased repression and brutal handling of the democratic forces in the country, a development that has increased severely since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February.
The UCP Political Council considers the detentions and arrests “a gross violation of the current constitution and calls this a campaign to intimidate party members and supporters” in the oldest dictatorship in Europe.
Furthermore, the UCP political council calls on the sister parties from EPP to campaign in solidarity with the detained, arrested and convicted leaders and activists of the UCP.
Tense relations between Russia and Kazakhstan
The relations between Russia and Kazakhstan are getting tenser. Meeting in June in St. Petersburg while they both attended an economic forum, Kazakh president Tokayev publically criticized Putin over his leadership and of sowing discord between their countries. It is worth noting that he did this while sitting next to the Russian president. The Kazakh president has previously rejected requests from Moscow to assist the Russian war in Ukraine and has moreover refused to recognize the occupied territories of Ukraine as either independent or Russian.