Petersburg Dialogue
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The Petersburg Dialogue ( Russian: Петербургский диалог ) is a bilateral discussion forum that aims to promote understanding between civil societies in Germany and Russia.
Foundation and way of working
The Petersburg Dialogue was launched in 2001 by the then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and the Russian President Vladimir Putin . The name of the discussion forum refers to the first venue Saint Petersburg in Russia.
The most important event is the annual conference, for which the term Petersburg Dialogue is used synonymously . It usually takes place alternately in Russia and Germany, with the exception of the 2006 dialogues in Dresden and 2007 in Wiesbaden . In addition, the eight working groups of the dialogue - "Politics", "Economy", "Civil Society", "Education and Science", "Culture", "Media", "Future Workshop", "Churches in Europe" - meet between the annual conferences Discussion of current issues and initiation of specific projects on a smaller scale.
The Petersburg Dialogue is supported by political and private foundations, German and Russian companies, and the governments of both countries. Patrons of the discussion forum are the current German Chancellor and the current Russian President.
organization
The work of the Petersburg Dialogue is organized by a German-Russian steering committee with equal representation . He plans the annual meetings, prepares them thematically and invites the participants.
Offices
the Peterburger Dialog operates two branches
- Berlin, Schillerstraße 59 10627 Berlin
- St. Petersburg, 199034 7/9 Universitetskaja nab.
Chair of the Steering Committee
| Term of office | person |
|---|---|
| 2002-2005 | Peter Boenisch |
| 2005-2015 | Lothar de Maizière |
| since May 2015 | Ronald Pofalla |
Ronald Pofalla has headed the German government's Petersburg Dialogue since May 2015. [50] [51] [52] His predecessor Lothar de Maiziere had come under fire for having supported the Russian perspective too clearly. Pofalla was preferred to Ruprecht Polenz , who had called for drastic restructuring measures in order to balance the tendency and the entrepreneurial nature of the dialogue. Also Matthias Platzeck resigned to its position on the issue of annexation of the Crimea as a successor candidate from. Pofalla seemed suitable for a constructive dialogue with Russia, also due to his Eastern European experience and economic contacts. [53] The dialogue is to be resumed, but the sanctions are to remain in place. [54]
| Term of office | person |
|---|---|
| 2002-2009 | Mikhail Gorbachev |
| since 2009 | Viktor Zubkov |
Dealing with the Ukraine crisis
In connection with the crisis in Ukraine in 2014 , criticism of the event and the composition of the German steering committee was repeatedly voiced. The deputy CDU / CSU parliamentary group leader Andreas Schockenhoff declared that the Petersburg Dialogue was no longer an independent forum for discussion and that critics of the Russian government would no longer have their say there. After several representatives of non-governmental organizations from Germany declared in October 2014 that they would not take part in the St. Petersburg Dialogue 2014 in Sochi , the event was initially postponed indefinitely. The chairman of the German steering committee Lothar de Maizière regretted this decision. In an open letter dated October 13, 2014, Lothar de Maizière pointed out that the Petersburg talks “require realism as well as intellectual discipline, which also includes understanding how Russia understands the problems. This - and not refusal to speak - is the prerequisite for being able to hold problem-oriented discussions on all democratic levels of society - from the center of political power to the marginalized groups. Neither side can claim to represent more legitimate interests than the other. "
On November 19, 2014 de Maizière was, according to his own account, “pressured” by the Chancellery “with the request” to also cancel the general meeting planned for the end of November “because of the general political weather situation”. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, de Maizière criticized the government's policy. Merkel's strategy of “turning the sanctions screw against Putin” is not expedient. According to his impression, sanctions are in the American, not the European interest.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported on November 22, 2014 on a key issues paper supported by the Chancellery and the Foreign Office . It demands that the St. Petersburg Dialogue “must also provide space for critical discussion of Russian politics”. The Chancellery and the Foreign Office see no possibility that a reform could be successful under de Maizière's leadership. In the future, civil society organizations should be more represented in the general assembly. A new statute should be drawn up and a new board elected. The connection to the German-Russian Forum is to be terminated, as there are large personal overlaps in both bodies: the Eastern Committee of German Business is well represented. The paper was written by Andreas Schockenhoff, Marieluise Beck , the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Heinrich Böll Foundation . As part of the reform, the former Brandenburg Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck is to lose influence in the forum. Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) “wrested” this concession from Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (SPD) on November 19, 2014. De Maiziere's successor was Ronald Pofalla (CDU) in May 2015 .
Annual meetings
Around 100 participants from all areas of society are invited to the annual meetings of the Petersburg Dialogue on the German and Russian sides. In addition to representatives from politics, business and culture, young up-and-coming elites from both countries are brought together in the discussion forum. Common concerns are discussed in the various working groups and specific projects are initiated. In the meantime, some important initiatives have emerged from the work of the Petersburg Dialogue, such as the German-Russian Youth Exchange Foundation or the Koch-Metschnikow Forum , in which German and Russian researchers regularly exchange ideas about bacteriological and virological developments, a German-Russian raw materials forum , which met for the first time in Wiesbaden in 2007, a German-Russian social forum that was initiated at the Dialogue in Yekaterinburg in 2010, or joint projects in cultural cooperation within the framework of the Culture Working Group of the Petersburg Dialogue, such as conferences on world heritage, exhibitions on the "Bronze Age" (2013 ) and “Russians & Germans - 1000 Years of Art, History and Culture” (2012). At the 8th Petersburg Dialogue in 2008, a bilateral agreement was signed between the German and Russian steering committees of the Petersburg Dialogue, which provides for the implementation of the German-Russian modernization partnership in the areas of health care, logistics, raw material efficiency and the rule of law.
An annual topic of the conferences was the disputes which companies in Russia have to lead with supervisory and legal protection bodies.
The previous annual meetings are or were:
| 1st Petersburg Dialogue 2001 | April 9-10, 2001 | St. Petersburg | Topic: "Russia and Germany on the threshold of the 21st century" |
| 2nd Petersburg Dialogue 2002 | April 8-10, 2002 | Weimar | Topic: "Germany and Russia in a world that is reorganizing itself" |
| 3rd Petersburg Dialogue 2003 | April 10-12, 2003 | St. Petersburg | Topic: "Russia and Germany in Europe" |
| 4th Petersburg Dialogue 2004 | September 9-10, 2004 | Hamburg | Topic: "Germany and Russia - partners in the development process of European cooperation" |
| 5th Petersburg Dialogue 2005 | November 30th to December 1st, 2005 | St. Petersburg | Main topic: "Perspectives and new developments in German-Russian relations" |
| 6th Petersburg Dialogue 2006 | October 9-11, 2006 | Dresden | Topic: "Germany and Russia in European responsibility" |
| 7th Petersburg Dialogue 2007 | October 13-15, 2007 | Wiesbaden | Topic: "Unity of Europe - German and Russian contributions" |
| 8th Petersburg Dialogue 2008 | September 30th to October 3rd, 2008 | St. Petersburg | Topic: "Russia and Germany in the globalized world - partners in modernization" |
| 9th Petersburg Dialogue 2009 | July 14-16, 2009 | Munich | Topic: "Ways out of the crisis from the point of view of civil societies in Germany and Russia" |
| 10th Petersburg Dialogue 2010 | July 13-15, 2010 | Ekaterinburg | Topic: "German and Russian Society in the Next Decade" |
| 11th Petersburg Dialogue 2011 | 17th to 19th July 2011 | Wolfsburg and Hanover | Topic: "Citizens, society and the state - partners in the modernization process" |
| 12th Petersburg Dialogue 2012 | November 14-16, 2012 | Moscow | Topic: "Russia and Germany: The Information Society Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century" |
| 13th Petersburg Dialogue 2013 | December 4-6, 2013 | kassel | Topic: "Social and political rights as a condition for a free society" |
| 14th Petersburg Dialogue 2015 | October 22 to 24, 2015 | Potsdam | Topic: "Modernization as an opportunity for a common European house" |
| 15th Petersburg Dialogue 2016 | July 14-16, 2016 | St. Petersburg | Topic: "Russia and Germany in the face of global challenges" |
| 16th Petersburg Dialogue 2017 | November 23 and 24, 2017 | Berlin | Topic: "Social participation as an opportunity for German-Russian understanding"
After the conference, Irina Scherbakowa criticized the fact that "the real representatives of civil society" were not spoken there, but "with the functionaries and unfortunately sometimes also with the propagandists". |
| 17th Petersburg Dialogue 2018 | October 7th to 8th, 2018 | Moscow | Topic: "Building trust, strengthening partnerships: Civil society cooperation between Russia and Germany as an impetus for international dialogue" |
| 18th Petersburg Dialogue 2019 | July 18-20, 2019 | on the Petersberg in Königswinter |
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A forum for dialogue between civil societies ›Petersburg Dialog. Retrieved November 26, 2019 .
- ↑ offices
- ↑ Petersburger Dialog relies on talking ( Memento from April 27, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), MDR website from April 23, 2014
- ↑ Lothar de Maizière defends himself , article in Der Tagesspiegel of October 14, 2014
- ↑ http://www.petersburger-dialog.de/offener-brief-vom-13-oktober-2014
- ↑ FAZ.NET: “Petersburg Dialogue” postponed due to pressure from the Chancellery. In: FAZ.net . November 20, 2014, accessed October 13, 2018 .
- ↑ FAZ: “Sanctions against Russia are not in Europe's interest”. In: FAZ.net . November 21, 2014, accessed October 13, 2018 .
- ↑ FAZ.NET: Bund für Wechsel at the top of the Petersburg Dialogue. In: FAZ.net . November 22, 2014, accessed October 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Russia policy: Merkel boots Platzeck out. In: Spiegel Online . November 22, 2014, accessed June 9, 2018 .
- ↑ Putin's promises on the SPIEF: Old Wine in Old Hoses , ostexperte.de, June 20, 2016; "Already in the past there was no forum that did not address the eternal disputes between companies and supervisory and legal protection bodies"
- ↑ Irina Scherbakowa - her new book, her work for Memorial and her opinion on Putin's politics , ostexperte.de, December 15, 2017
- ↑ Intended program