Research fellows tour Brussels

From 30 May to 3 June EUCAM organised a tour to Brussels for research fellows and CESS staff. Next to Gulzada Rysbekova, Nadya Tatkalo, and Viktoriya Nem, we were also joined by Irina Kulikova and Begimai Bekbolotova who did their 2020 fellowship in lockdown from Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. With a group of seven (including Andreas Marazis of ENC and Jos Boonstra of CESS) we had the opportunity to have meetings with EU institutions; research unit of the European Parliament, DG INTPA at the European Commission, the Central Asia Division of the European External Action Service, and the office of the Special Representative for Central Asia. We discussed the impact that Russia’s war on Ukraine might have on EU-Central Asia relations. We also had the opportunity to meet with representatives of think tanks such as Carnegie Europe and the International Crisis Group as well as meet with interlocutors from the Open Society Foundations and the European Endowment for Democracy.

About Author

Jos Boonstra

Before joining the Centre for European Security Studies in 2016, Boonstra worked as senior researcher, and later as head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia programme at FRIDE, a think tank with offices in Madrid and Brussels. He completed MAs in Contemporary History and International Relations at the University of Groningen. His work focuses on Eurasian and transatlantic security issues (in particular EU, NATO and OSCE policies) as well as on development policies and democratisation in Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia. Boonstra is member of several internal research networks and regularly comments on international issues in the media.

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