New ESI-report on Visa Liberalisation between Turkey & the EU




A new report from the European Stability Initiative analyses the current stalemate between Turkey and the EU concerning visa liberalisation. It suggests a concrete way for visa freedom before 2015. Read more →

What is happening in Georgia?




The new “Georgian Dream” government has faced severe criticism recently after the arrests of two leading politicians from the opposition, Ivane Merabishvili and Zurab Chiaberashvili, on May 21 and after the attacks against LGBT activists on May 17.
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Freedom of the Press 2013




The proportion of the world’s population living in societies with a free press is the lowest in over a decade, as regimes are exploring new ways to oppress the free media, according to Freedom House’s latest report on press freedom.

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News

EPP Condemns the Arrests in Georgia

May 23rd, 2013   Georgia | News
Wilfred Martens

Wilfred Martens, President of the EPP

Wilfried Martens, President of the European People’s Party (EPP) sharply criticizes the Georgian government after the arrests of two leading opposition politicians, the former Prime Minister Ivane Merabishvili and the former Health and Social Affairs Minister Zurab Chiaberashvili. “If these arrests prove to be politically motivated, it may result in the freezing of Georgia’s Association Agreement process,” says Martens in a statement and demands the international community to establish a monitoring mechanism to assess the entire proceedings before the presidential election this fall. (more…)

Opposition Leaders Arrested in Georgia

May 22nd, 2013   Georgia | News

The Georgian Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday that they have arrested two leading politicians from the opposition, UNM’s General Secretary Ivane Merabishvili, who in 2012 was the country’s Prime Minister, and before that Minister of Interior Affairs and Zurab Chiaberashvili, former Minister for Health and Social Affairs and the President’s representative in the Kakheti region. (more…)

Spring School with youth politicians from Eastern Europe

May 7th, 2013   Azerbaijan | Belarus | Georgia | Moldavia | News

May 3-6, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation arranged this year’s Spring School, a conference on ideology with young politicians from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Sweden. The conference was held in Nynashamn, south of Stockholm, and topics such as democracy, market economy and human rights were discussed, as well as more practical issues about further EU enlargement and the situation in the Eastern Partnership countries. (more…)

IDU Adopts Resolution on the Venezuelan Presidential Elections

April 19th, 2013   News | Venezuela @en

After hard pressure from the international community, the Electoral Committee of Venezuela has agreed to make a recount and audit of 46% of the ballot boxes.  This has however not stopped Nicolás Maduro from swearing the presidential oath as planned. Mr Maduro will be sworn in under the supervision of several Latin American leaders, mid-day April 19. The opposition has announced that they will not attend the ceremony. (more…)

Talks on the Developments in Venezuela

April 18th, 2013   News | Venezuela @en
Henrique Salas Römer, Eva Gustavsson and Jori Arvonen.

Henrique Salas Römer, Eva Gustavsson and Jori Arvonen

Henrique Salas Römer, Party leader of Proyecto Venezuela, and Eva Gustavsson, Managing Director of the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation, met yesterday with Finnish State Under-Secretary for EU Affairs, Jori Arvonen. The main topic of the discussion was to inform Mr Arvonen about the current situation in Venezuela.

Conference for the Opposition in Azerbaijan

April 9th, 2013   Azerbaijan | News

April 4-6, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organised three conferences in Baku, in cooperation with the National Independence Party of Azerbaijan (NIPA). The country’s authoritarian regime seems to continue holding a tight grip of the country, prior to the presidential election in October this year. (more…)

Youth conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina

April 5th, 2013   Bosnia and Herzegovina | Countries and Regions | Education | News | The Balkans

In Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation (JHS) works with SDA, one of the first parties that was formed after multiparty system was introduced in BiH. On March 22-24, third step of a four step training model, tailored for JHS partners in the Balkans, took place. The location was the small Bosnian town of Fojnica, outside of Sarajevo, and participants consisted of around 30 young representatives from SDA, selected among 300 applicants. (more…)

Gunnar Hökmark on “a new Russian curtain”

March 26th, 2013   News | Russia | The European Union

A new Russian curtain is descending, dividing Europe. In contrast to the old one, this new curtain is not made of iron, concrete or barbed wire. Behind, there are no armoured divisions prepared for invasion. Instead, there are political and economic forces where private and public power has merged, leading to power without transparency, checks and balances or any kind of accountability, be it domestic or foreign. (more…)

Ideological Discussions in Ankara

March 25th, 2013   News | Turkey

March 23-24, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organised a conference for university students in Ankara in cooperation with the Turkish think-tank Association for Liberal Thinking. The conference was based on Nigel Ashford’s study guide”Principles for a Free Society”, which discusses basic ideas of a liberal democracy. (more…)

Seminar on Democracy Support for Swedish Politicians

March 22nd, 2013   Development Aid | News | Seminars
Margaretha af Ugglas, former Minister for Foreign Affairs and former Chairman of JHS

Margaretha af Ugglas, former Minister for Foreign Affairs and former JHS Chairman

March 21, the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation organised a seminar in Stockholm for local and regional politicians from the Swedish Moderate party on how we work to support democracy and on Swedish democracy aid. (more…)