The Eastern Partnership Reality Check is a policy review process aiming to gather insights from top domestic and international analysts, practitioners, diplomats and policy-makers covering Eastern Partnership countries in order to discuss these behind closed doors. It has the ambition to satisfy demand for a more in-depth policy in this area. Under the aegis of Lithuania`s EU Presidency (July-December 2013) the first such a review was the Belarus Reality Check (BRC) enacted in Vilnius, Lithuania October 2012. Shortly similar events on Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova have emerged.
The review group of Ukraine Reality Check (URC) is comprised of top Western, Ukrainian and regional analysts with a particular emphasis on the independent character of the group in order to achieve evidence-based and balanced policy advice. The non-papers are product of the URC meetings, fact-checking and peer review process. They are released in order to contribute to the policy debate in and outside of Ukraine.
The first Ukraine Reality Check was held on 18th June, 2013 in Kiev, Ukraine hosted by the Embassy of Lithuania. Please see the program here.
The second meeting took place on 28th of October in Kiev, Ukraine. It was held under the project partially financed by International Visegrad Fund and supported by the Lithuanian Embassy in Kiev. Please see the program of the 2nd Ukraine “Reality Check” here. More about the event please read here.
The third meeting was held on 16th of April, 2015 in Riga, Latvia. Among the topics discussed were the situation in Eastern Ukraine, politics after the Minsk II agreement, economic trends and the results of Ukraine’s key reforms. Please see the program here. The event was supported by International Visegrad Fund, Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the European Endowment for Democracy. More about the event please see here.
The fourth Ukraine Reality Check took place on 8th of February, 2016 in Kiev, Ukraine. The event included panel discussions on following topics: Ukraine’s internal politics, including key political (f)actors and their impact on the developments in 2016; update on the security, political and humanitarian aspects of the conflict and prospects for moving the Minsk Agreements forward; economic progress and expected developments; key reform achievements and failures in 2015 and potential scenarios for 2016. Please see the agenda here. The gathering was kindly supported by the European Endowment for Democracy, the Lithuanian and Latvian Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Pact (US).
The fifth meeting is to take place on 24th of May, 2017 in Kiev, Ukraine. Organized by EESC with a support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia with programmatic contribution from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
2nd Ukraine Reality Check. Policy Review. October 2014 – March 2015. EN
