{"id":1172,"date":"2024-11-18T17:08:33","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T17:08:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2024-11-18T17:08:34","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T17:08:34","slug":"eastern-european-scholars-stuck-between-brussels-hope-and-kremlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172","title":{"rendered":"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contested elections in Georgia and Moldova \u2018decisive moments\u2019 for EU relations, experts say<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/news\/eastern-european-scholars-stuck-between-brussels-hope-and-kremlin\">Read full article<\/a> on Times Higher Education<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Academics have raised fears that Georgian higher education could face \u201ccomplete isolation\u201d from the European Union after the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party claimed victory in&nbsp;last month\u2019s parliamentary elections, a&nbsp;result contested by&nbsp;the country\u2019s pro-EU opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The poll followed an unexpectedly tight referendum result in&nbsp;Moldova, in&nbsp;which voters backed EU&nbsp;membership by an&nbsp;exceptionally slim margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Diana Lezhava, a research fellow in higher education at Georgia\u2019s Center for Social Sciences, said a fourth term for the populist GD&nbsp;party could see the country at risk of \u201cinternational isolation, further violation of human rights, mass emigration of young people and even harsher economic and democratic backsliding\u201d. A broken relationship with the EU, she warned, could result in \u201cGeorgian higher education [being] cut off\u201d from schemes including Erasmus+ and Horizon Europe, \u201cschemes that created mass opportunity for Georgian students and scholars to study and work in European countries\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Johannes Wetzinger, a political science lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna, told&nbsp;<em>Times Higher Education<\/em>&nbsp;that the elections were a \u201cdecisive moment for the future of the relations between the EU and Georgia\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Georgia\u2019s pro-EU president and former&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/world-university-rankings\/sciences-po\">Sciences Po<\/a>&nbsp;professor Salom\u00e9 Zourabichvili has refused to accept the election results, alleging that Russia employed a \u201cspecial operation\u201d to rig voting, while top EU diplomat Josep Borrell has called for \u201celectoral irregularities\u201d to be investigated. The EU granted Georgia candidate status last December, but halted the process in July after the GD-controlled parliament passed a \u201cforeign agents\u201d law described by Professor Zourabichvili, who vetoed the bill, as \u201cRussian in its essence and spirit\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Universities were at the forefront of mass protests against the law, Ms Lezhava said, with many participating institutions now \u201cunder attack by the government\u201d as a result. She pointed to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeshighereducation.com\/world-university-rankings\/ilia-state-university\">Ilia State University<\/a>, from which full accreditation was withheld in the summer despite its receiving a positive evaluation. \u201cThe state is trying to punish the university,\u201d she said<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under GD, academic freedom and university autonomy have faced \u201cserious threats\u201d, Ms Lezhava said. \u201cThe underfunding of research is the one of the biggest challenges. Without academic research, there is no&nbsp;knowledge production, which holds back your academic system.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Moldova, also a candidate for EU membership, 50.46&nbsp;per cent of voters in October\u2019s referendum chose to enshrine the goal of joining the EU in the country\u2019s constitution. Pro-European president Maia Sandu, who claimed a second term in a tense election run-off held on 3 November that was marred by claims of ballot box interference, described the unexpectedly tight referendum as the result of \u201c[Russia\u2019s] unprecedented assault on our country\u2019s freedom and democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2005, both Georgia and Moldova joined the Bologna Process, aimed at establishing higher education qualifications of comparable quality across a European Higher Education Area. The countries are also associated to the Horizon Europe research funding programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mr Wetzinger said the participation of universities from both countries in the Erasmus+ student mobility scheme demonstrated an interest across the sectors in further internationalisation, although the \u201cactual degree of internationalisation varies\u201d among institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Moldova, Mr Wetzinger said, \u201cwe can already observe that the process of EU approximation has direct impacts on higher education\u201d. The association agreement between the EU and Moldova outlines priorities including \u201cthe modernisation of higher education\u201d and \u201cincreased staff and student mobility\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Moldovan institutions have maintained relationships with institutions in both the EU and Russia, he added, the mounting tensions prompted by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine have forced the country to contend with \u201can increasing geopoliticisation of higher education cooperation\u201d. At present, he said, EU membership remains a \u201clonger-term prospect\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em><a href=\"mailto:emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com\">emily.dixon@timeshighereducation.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contested elections in Georgia and Moldova \u2018decisive moments\u2019 for EU relations, experts say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-papers-by-dsi-fellows"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin - Democratic Security Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin - Democratic Security Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Contested elections in Georgia and Moldova \u2018decisive moments\u2019 for EU relations, experts say\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democratic Security Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088850526858\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-18T17:08:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-18T17:08:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"demsecinstitute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@demsecinstitute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@demsecinstitute\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"demsecinstitute\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"demsecinstitute\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/person\/152bec0207fcadfc3b09da892465859f\"},\"headline\":\"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-18T17:08:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-18T17:08:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\"},\"wordCount\":652,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Papers by DSI fellows\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\",\"name\":\"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin - Democratic Security Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-18T17:08:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-18T17:08:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg\",\"width\":620,\"height\":413},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/\",\"name\":\"Democratic Security Institute\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Democratic Security Institute\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/New-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/New-logo.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":280,\"caption\":\"Democratic Security Institute\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088850526858\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/demsecinstitute\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/person\/152bec0207fcadfc3b09da892465859f\",\"name\":\"demsecinstitute\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83dcf5aaab5d7ec965720c4e9e8d116467168870eb5c82db2eade422eeca8032?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83dcf5aaab5d7ec965720c4e9e8d116467168870eb5c82db2eade422eeca8032?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"demsecinstitute\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin - Democratic Security Institute","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin - Democratic Security Institute","og_description":"Contested elections in Georgia and Moldova \u2018decisive moments\u2019 for EU relations, experts say","og_url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172","og_site_name":"Democratic Security Institute","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088850526858","article_published_time":"2024-11-18T17:08:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-18T17:08:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"demsecinstitute","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@demsecinstitute","twitter_site":"@demsecinstitute","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"demsecinstitute","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172"},"author":{"name":"demsecinstitute","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/person\/152bec0207fcadfc3b09da892465859f"},"headline":"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin","datePublished":"2024-11-18T17:08:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-18T17:08:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172"},"wordCount":652,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg","articleSection":["Papers by DSI fellows"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172","url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172","name":"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin - Democratic Security Institute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-18T17:08:33+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-18T17:08:34+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/web-the_071124_p12_georgia_getty.jpg","width":620,"height":413},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?p=1172#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eastern European scholars stuck between Brussels hope and Kremlin"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/","name":"Democratic Security Institute","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#organization","name":"Democratic Security Institute","url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/New-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/New-logo.jpg","width":700,"height":280,"caption":"Democratic Security Institute"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100088850526858","https:\/\/x.com\/demsecinstitute"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/person\/152bec0207fcadfc3b09da892465859f","name":"demsecinstitute","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83dcf5aaab5d7ec965720c4e9e8d116467168870eb5c82db2eade422eeca8032?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83dcf5aaab5d7ec965720c4e9e8d116467168870eb5c82db2eade422eeca8032?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"demsecinstitute"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org"],"url":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1176,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions\/1176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demsecinstitute.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}