More than 60 world celebrities, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, shared sometimes contrary opinions here on Thursday at the International conference “Europe Looks East.”
The two-day event, jointly organized by the New Policy Forum ( Gorbachev Forum) and the Slavyani Foundation (Bulgaria), brought together politicians such as former Romanian President Ion Iliescu, former Turkish Prime Minister Mezut Yilmaz, last Yugoslavian Foreign Minister Budimir Loncar, intellectuals and civil representatives.
“The whole complex issues related to Russia, the Balkans, Turkey, the countries in the post-Soviet space, is a European problem,” Gorbachev told the opening session on Thursday. “These countries are not neighbors of Europe, they are an integral part of Europe,” he added.
On the other hand, Zahari Zahariev, president of Slaviani Foundation, said that artificially forcing the pace of integration policy and block over-centralization, enhance the anonymous nature of the state power and erode the peoples’ trust in the traditional foundations of the state structure.
According to Zahariev, loosing the faith in the functional abilities of the state, the public perception is directed to a logic of behavior that opens the door to violent protests, riots and terrorism.
Speaking about the Balkans, Pascal Boniface, director of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations, said that the unification of Bosnia and Herzegovina is more facade and that Kosovo is a problem too, but with regard to Turkey, it needs Europe and Europe needs it, so that Turkish accession to the European Union (EU) is a matter of time.
In the Balkans for a long time best laugh is not the one who laughs last, but the one who shoots first, said Slavi Binev, member of Europian parlament.
The Balkans have learned one lesson — that wars do not solve problems, replied Alexander Tomov, former Bulgarian Vice-Premier.
Russia also was one of the topics of the discussions. Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, said that Both the EU and Russia are at a crossroads, that they are potential allies, but have a problem of trust between them.
Russia’s accession to the EU was called “the ideal scenario” by Vladislav Inozemtsev, Professor of Economics at Moscow State University.
