CEURUS Summer School

2nd CEURUS Summer School on

“Prospects for Democracy, Stability and Europeanization in Ukraine” has been a great success

The International Summer School “Prospects for Democracy, Stability and Europeanization in Ukraine: What lessons from the Baltic experience?“ organised by the Centre for EU-Russia Studies (CEURUS) has brought 31 Ukrainian students to Tartu. Together with Estonian and other EU students they discussed the topics of democracy and democratization, security and economic development in the former Communist region, and in particular in the three Baltic states.

“We received altogether 292 applications from all regions of Ukraine, but we could only accept 31,” explained the organiser of the Second Summer school, Dr Piret Ehin, Director of CEURUS and Senior Researcher at the Institute of Government and Politics. “Among the participants, we had both students who have left the annexed Crimea to live in Western Ukraine as well as students from Eastern Ukraine.”

Dr Ehin says the Summer school cannot provide ready-made reform solutions but instead aims to share experiences of the participants and expand their worldviews. “There are several topics that are crucial for both us and the Ukrainians: ensuring democracy and rule of law, economic prosperity, security in the changed international environment, social cohesion and coexistence among different ethnic groups, as well as integration with the EU. The Ukrainians are interested in the Estonian state-building experience, learning about our successes and failures,” described Ehin.

During the first four days of the Summer school, the participants attended lectures at the University of Tartu, with instructors from the Institute of Government and Politics and guest lecturers from the University of Uppsala, Estonian National Defence College and from the software development company Nortal. The students also visited the Supreme Court of Estonia, the Tartu Science Park and met with NGOs providing humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

The programme also included film nights and a visit to the Science Centre AHHAA. The last two days were spent in Tallinn to visit the Estonian Parliament and meet with politicians, diplomats and the representatives of the local Ukrainian community. The speakers included, among others, Mr Jüri Luik, former Estonian ambassador to Russia, Mr Trivimi Velliste, MP and one of the leading figures during the restoration of Estonian independence, and Mr Johannes Kert, chair of Estonian-Ukrainian parliamentary group.

The International Summer School has been organised with financial support from the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs development cooperation budget.

For additional information about the summer school, see: