The Center for Liberal Modernity cordially invites you to the inter­na­tional confer­ence “What Kind of Peace? Ukraine and Us” on October 16, 2024.

On 9 and 10 July, the Centre for Liberal Modernity organized the inter­na­tional confer­ence “EU Enlarge­ment — a geopo­lit­ical necessity and the next steps for the EU candidate states” with its partner orga­ni­za­tions in Tbilisi, Georgia.

As a result of Russia’s constant attacks on its energy sector, Ukraine suffers an ongoing severe energy shortage. Power outages are a daily occur­rence. This makes life difficult for the popu­la­tion, endangers...

July 9–10: Center for Liberal Modernity in Tbilisi — inter­na­tional confer­ence with our partner orga­ni­za­tions aims at fostering collab­o­ra­tion among civil society orga­ni­za­tions from the eastern part­ner­ships and the Western Balkans and strenghten them on EU accession issues. Partic­i­pants will share their paths to EU member­ship, exchange best practices and develop joint initiatives.

While Russia is preparing for a long war, the West remains hesitant and divided. At this year’s confer­ence Russia and the West, partic­i­pants urgently called for a new European policy versus Moscow....

Ideas matter! That is why LibMod launched a new format: The European Book Club. The second discus­sion will be devoted to “The Blind­sided” by Sylvie Kauffmann.

On 14–15 December 2023, the European Council decided to open accession nego­ti­a­tions with the Republic of Moldova if progress can be made in imple­menting EU reforms, partic­u­larly in the Rule of Law. Since then, the Moldovan govern­ment has been contin­u­ously imple­menting the EU reforms. How should Moldova’s progress towards EU accession nego­ti­a­tions be assessed? What are the next steps in the EU inte­gra­tion process for Moldova? How can the EU and Germany support and accompany Moldova on its European path? 

Germany’s foot-dragging over military aid to Ukraine and the half-hearted imple­men­ta­tion of Chan­cellor Scholz’ Zeit­en­wende were subjected to sharp criticism at the Center for Liberal Modernity’s recent public discus­sion “Russia...

The war in Ukraine is a test for liberal democ­ra­cies’ resolve and for their capacity to act. There is still time to turn the tide. Otherwise, future histo­rians will mark this...

Despite the ongoing war Ukraine is deter­mined to rebuild its aviation industry and enable its citizens to travel by air again. On 8 May, the Centre for Liberal Modernity discussed the future of the Ukrainian aviation industry with European and Ukrainian experts. The most urgent needs are: trainings for staff, funds (loans or direct aid) as well as air defence systems and munition. Lukas Daubner summarised the results of the discus­sion here.

In our public discus­sion «Russia and the West — What is at stake» on 15 May in Berlin we will discuss policy options for the West versus Moscow and what Germany’s allies expect from Berlin. Find the programme and details how to register offline and/​or online here.

On 20 March, LibMod organised two expert discus­sions on carbon manage­ment and negative emissions in Brussels. Many decisions that are also crucial for Germany are currently being made there. All the more reason to open our eyes to the EU perspective.

Inter­na­tional Expert Network Russia Confer­ence Programme as of 14 May 2024 “RUSSIA AND THE WEST: WHAT IS AT STAKE” The War in Ukraine and the West’s Future Policy towards Russia

On February 28th LibMod organised a workshop on the Green energy tran­si­tion in Ukrainian commu­ni­ties to discuss current legisla­tive frame­works and practical local expe­ri­ences of small distrib­uted gener­a­tion in munic­i­pal­i­ties with lawmakers and experts from Ukraine and the EU. Decen­tral­ized energy can benefit commu­ni­ties through strength­ening their resilience and security, reducing elec­tricity costs, and increasing invest­ments and local ownership. Since the Russian war of aggres­sion, municipal owned enter­prises and local ownership of renewable energy have become highly important. 

On February 28th, the Zentrum Liberale Moderne hosted its kick-off European Book Club event, featuring a thought-provoking discus­sion on the essay “Post­trau­matic Sover­eignty” by our Program Directors and Senior Fellows Karolina Wigura and Jaroslaw Kuisz. 

What does Russia’s war against Ukraine mean for German-Polish relations? Inter­na­tional experts, academics, jour­nal­ists and diplomats from Poland and Germany, Ukraine, Belarus and the USA discussed these and other questions at the fifth German-Polish Round Table in Wojnowice.

For many years, Poland and Germany pursued different policies regarding Russia and Ukraine. While Warsaw advocated harsher sanctions against Moscow and more support for Kyiv, Berlin was tradi­tion­ally more reluctant. Despite Zeit­en­wende, differ­ences linger. Can the two countries synchro­nize their approach?

With its over­ar­ching theme “How fragile is the Putin system?” the recent meeting of LibMod’s Expert Network Russia at the Eastern Studies Centre in Warsaw sent a clear message: A fragile Russia...

On 11 October 2023, an inter­na­tional confer­ence organised by the Centre for Liberal Modernity shed light on the signif­i­cance of the Russian war of aggres­sion for Europe. What can we do to ensure that a free and united Ukraine emerges from the war? How can war criminals be held account­able? How do we shape the European security order of the future?

Inter­na­tional Expert Network Russia Network Meeting “How Fragile is the Putin System?”

One year after Ukraine was granted EU candidate status, we invited high-ranking repre­sen­ta­tives of the EU and Germany as well as experts from leading European think tanks to take stock of devel­op­ments so far. The discus­sion in Berlin on 18/​19 September also looked at the prospects for 2024 and tried to identify necessary reforms.

Ecology and freedom: how can we reconcile the two? What does a liberal climate policy look like and what funda­mental questions will it have to answer? We will discuss these questions at our confer­ence “Ecology & Freedom” on 29 November in Berlin. Among others with: Robert Habeck, Ursula Weiden­feld, Claus Leggewie, Michael Zürn, Ralf Fücks, Lukas Köhler, Andreas Jung and many others. 

Our major inter­na­tional confer­ence “Ukraine and Us” in the Repre­sen­ta­tion of the State of Hesse in Berlin generated a great deal of interest. More than 30 invited experts discussed the question “What does Russian aggres­sion mean for Europe” in 7 panels in front of an audience of more than 160 people.

Karolina Wigura at the LAMPA Conver­sa­tion Festival in Cēsis, Latvia on “Democracy and its enemies: How Not to Lose the Battle”. Putin’s war of aggres­sion in Ukraine has created new geopo­lit­ical and security realities that no longer leave Europe in peace. We are facing a decade of turbu­lence — how can we weather this storm? What are the threats to our democracies?

On June 15th, LibMod organized a Round Table on the prospects of a German-Ukrainian biomethane coop­er­a­tion where the repre­sen­ta­tives from politics and business as well as experts from both countries discussed the potential of biomethane produc­tion in Ukraine, its role in facil­i­tating a green tran­si­tion, and economic and legisla­tive chal­lenges for the trade development.

Center for Liberal Modernity together with our Ukrainian partners from Clean Energy Lab would like to invite you to an online discus­sion on “Small distrib­uted gener­a­tion and reforming the energy system of Ukraine” June 28th 14–15:30 CET.

While the Western countries have intro­duced unprece­dented sanctions against Russia’s energy sector, its nuclear industry, repre­sented by the state-owned nuclear energy monop­o­list Rosatom, remains an exception in the sanction policy of the EU and G7. Despite its role in seizing the occupied Zapor­izhzhia nuclear power plant and virtually black­mailing Europe, Rosatom seems to be protected from the sanctions, as many countries are still dependent on the Russian nuclear industry.

More than 120 experts from a dozen countries attended the fifth edition of our confer­ence “Russia and the West” on 20 April in Berlin. The partic­i­pants, including prominent Russian oppo­si­tion figures in exile, discussed future policy towards Moscow and post-Putin scenarios.

During an Inspiring Round­table last week, we discussed the West’s future Russia policy on the basis of four key countries’ approach — Poland, France, Germany and the US. Some short takeaways:

What is the economic and ecolog­ical future of Russia and what are the climate policy conse­quences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine? We invite you to a public discus­sion on 15 December 2022 with German and Russian economic, energy and climate experts.

Russia’s war against Ukraine has upended not just relations with the West but is testing the inter­na­tional system as a whole. The urgent need for new thinking has prompted the Center of Liberal Modernity to set up its Expert Network Russia, which met in Vilnius under the headline “Rethinking Russia” for the first time on 31 October.

“Rethinking Russia”: On 31 October, we opened our new project “Expert Network Russia” with a confer­ence in Vilnius. Here is a selection of photographs from the event.

The Center for Liberal Modernity’s Expert Network Russia kicked off last week with a one-day meeting in Vilnius. In his opening remarks, Ralf Fücks reminded everyone why we need to Rethink Russia.

Do Russian war crimes consti­tute genocide? What oblig­a­tions does this impose on the inter­na­tional community? Experts from politics, academia and civil society discussed these questions at the inter­na­tional confer­ence “Inter­na­tional Law against Genocide”.

Our new project “Expert Network Russia” kicked on October 31 with an inaugural meeting in Vilnius. Network members will gather in the Lithuanian Seimas to discuss how the West should deal with an increas­ingly total­i­tarian and neo-imperial Russia.

Liberal democracy is under pressure worldwide. At our confer­ence “Rethinking Liber­alism, Renewing Democracy” on 24 November in Berlin and online, we discussed with inter­na­tional guests from academia, politics, think tanks and business how liber­alism and liberal democracy must evolve in order to sustain. 

On 31 May, we discussed the future of the Russian economy after the war in Ukraine with Dr Vladislav Inozemtsev, Angelina Davydova, Dr Janis Kluge and Michael Harms.

Russia’s war of aggres­sion against Ukraine is a turning point for Europe and the whole world. What are its policy impli­ca­tions? Are the sanctions imposed so far suffi­cient to contain the...

On 22 March, at 2 pm, the Center for Liberal Modernity in coop­er­a­tion with Naftogaz Ukraine and the Ukrainian Feder­a­tion of Employers of the Oil and Gas Industry invites you to...

How should we deal with a repres­sive and confronta­tional Russia? Join our annual discus­sion “Russia and the West” on 24 March, which will be held jointly with the Munich Security Conference...

  On October 5, 2021, the Center Liberal Modernity held the public discus­sion on prior­i­ties for coop­er­a­tion with Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova under the Eastern Part­ner­ship Plus project. The discussion...

On January 17 the Centre for Liberal Modernity held its second inter­na­tional Russia confer­ence. This year’s topic was if Germany’s policy of detente of the 1970s can offer any guidance...

On March 13 the Center Liberal Modernity held its first inter­na­tional confer­ence on Russia. The event’s main intention was gaining a deeper under­standing of the Putin System and to find out...