Roland Freudenstein
Deputy Director and Head of Research, Centre for European Studies, Brussels
Roland Freudenstein is the Head of Research and the Deputy Director of the Centre for European Studies. He was previously Head of Foreign and European Affairs with the Berlin Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Director of the Warsaw Office of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He was also a member of the planning staff for Foreign and Security Policy of the European Commission. He studied political science, Japan studies, economics and international relations in Bonn and Los Angeles and has published widely on international security, Central Europe and German foreign policy.
Aliaksandr Milinkievich
Opposition Leader, Minsk
Mr. Milinkevich has been recognized for his long and decorated academic career as a Professor of physics at the State University in Hrodna. From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Milinkevich served as Deputy Mayor of his hometown, Hrodna. He was the United Democratic Forces presidential candidate during the 2006 presidential elections, committed to the advancement of democracy and human rights in Belarus. In 2006, Mr. Milinkevich received the Sakharov Price “For Freedom of Thought” from the European Parliament. The 2007 LI Prize for Freedom was awarded to Aliaksandr Milinkevich for his courageous struggle for human rights and his leadership of the democratic movement in Belarus. He is founder and Chairman of the Movement for Freedom created after 2006 election with objectives of defending democratic freedoms, strengthening the independence and promoting the European way of development for Belarus.
Balázs Jarábik
Country Representative for Belarus and Ukraine, PACT; Associate Fellow, FRIDE, Kyiv
Balázs Jarábik is an international development executive as well as political analyst, strategist and adviser. He heads the Kiev based office of Pact, Inc. overseeing civil society and independent media development projects in Belarus and Ukraine. He is writing extensively as Associate Fellow at the Madrid based pan-European think tank FRIDE. He combines international development, particularly in democracy and governance, with applied policy analysis and enriching both international development projects and political analysis with field based perspectives. He has consulted and advised civic organizations, political parties and campaigns in the number of countries of the Balkans and Eurasia, national bodies such as the Parliament and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, as well as international institutions such as the European Parliament, Freedom House or OSCE. He has also participated in international elections observation missions in Eurasia, the Balkans and South-East Asia.
Alexei Pikulik
Analyst, Belarusian Institute for Strategic Studies; European Humanities Universities, Vilnius
Alexei Pikulik works as BISS analyst since 2009. He holds a Ph.D in Political and Social Science (European University Institute, Florence), Master of Research in Political and Social Science (European University Institute, Florence), MA in Sociology (Central European University, Budapest). His research interests cover political economy of reforms, political economy of oil, economic regulation. Since 2006 teaches at European Humanities University (Vilnius) and since 2010 at the European University at Saint-Petersburg.
Eugeniusz Smolar
Senior Fellow, Polish Institute of International Affairs, Warsaw; Visiting Senior Fellow, Centre for European Studies, Brussels
Eugeniusz Smolar is a senior Fellow at the Polish Institute of International Affairs in Warsaw, former President of the Center for International Relations. He is a Chairman of the Polish-Czech Forum and has been involved in the Polish-German, Polish-Russian and Polish-Ukrainian dialogue. Professionally he concentrates on issues related to the European Security, Common Security and Defence Policy, future of NATO, Eastern Policy of Poland and of the European Union and Russia’s internal and foreign policy. E. Smolar resides now in Brussels as the Visiting Senior Fellow at the Centre for European Studies.
Pavol Demeš
Senior Transatlantic Fellow, German Marshall Fund of the U. S.; Minister for International Affairs of the Slovak Republic (1991 – 1992)
Pavol Demeš serves as the Senior Transatlantic Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Slovakia. Prior to this position, he had been Director of Bratislava office for Central and Eastern Europe of the same institution since January 2000. Previously, he served as the Executive Director of the Slovak Academic Information Agency-Service Center for the Third Sector, a leading NGO in the country. He also served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the President of the Slovak Republic (1993 – 97), and from 1991 – 92 he was the Minister of International Relations. An internationally recognized NGO leader, Mr. Demeš, was an elected spokesperson of the Gremium of the Third Sector, a volunteer advocacy coalition, and served on the boards of national and international associations and foundations. In 1999 he was awarded a six-month public policy research fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington D.C. He received the EU-US Democracy and Civil Society Award, the USAID Democracy and Governance Award, Royal Dutch decoration Knight of the Order of Orange Nassau, Yugoslav Star of First Class.
