On October 19th, 2022 Estonian ambassador to Germany, Alar Streimann, and the Estonian Embassy hosted CISS and 25 interested students and young professionals in an informal and friendly environment. After a short introduction to current Estonian politics and history from CISS co-director for Eastern Europe to Central Asia, Lance Bradley, Ambassador Streimann provided a detailed look into foreign policy challenges for Estonia before the floor was opened up for discussion.

Many attendees knew something about Estonia already, but also gained new insights about Estonia’s role in the EU and how strongly Estonia supports Ukraine. Participants were also able to learn about diplomatic life in Berlin and some historical developments of the Estonian diplomatic service following the re-establishment of Estonian independence in 1991.

During the event, all participants could enjoy the ambience of the beautiful Estonian Embassy, one of the oldest in Berlin continually used by the same country. Furthermore, the embassy had many examples of Estonian artwork for participants to enjoy both before and after our joint discussion with the ambassador.

For information about upcoming events like this, keep an eye on the CISS website and our social media! Big thanks to the Estonian embassy for hosting us and helping us kick off the new “Fireside Chat” series!

Fireside chat with Estonian Ambassador Alar Streimann. Photo: CISS

On October 19th at 18:00, we are meeting up with Estonian Ambassador to Germany, Alar Streimann, at the Estonian Embassy in Berlin where we will have drinks, snacks, and an open and friendly discussion.

Estonia is a country known for e-governance and a hip tech start-up scene, but Estonia has much more to offer than just that. The small nation joined with its Baltic neighbors to fight for the reinstalment of their independence in the early 1990s, and now Estonia is playing a huge role in supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. Economically and politically, Estonia has gone from a little-known country struggling with its own identity to a major player in the European Union within the last decades.

How to participate

Please register at info@ciss.eu with your name, organization, and position (i.e. Max Mustermann, Humboldt University, student). The list of participants is limited to 25 persons, so don’t miss this opportunity to register in advance.

For security purposes, the Estonian Embassy also needs this information and kindly asks all participants to bring a photo-ID with them to the event. The event will be held in English.

Several people who had not previously engaged with CISS took part in the discussion and brought interest and new impulses for the evaluation process – which was particularly joyous. More than that, it was discussed at length how CISS might manage to motivate more young people to take part and initiate Impact Groups.

Aside from the format of the strategy meeting, Saturday, 7^th September 2019 also saw the constituting meeting of CISS This forum had the solemn task of passing change to the statute of CISS in order to streamline the organisation of members – but do not worry, nothing has factually changed regarding member fees! The second big task of the forum was the relief of the executive board and the election of new members to the executive board for the next three years.

The previous executive board consisted of Theresa Lieb, Johannes Klein, Dr. Kilian Spandler, Florian Winkler and Dr. Steffen Murau. They were relieved unanimously, and we would like to take this moment to once again thank them wholeheartedly for their work and dedication! We are thankful that they will remain as contact persons and wish them only the best for their future!

Members of the new executive board are: Anne Laible, responsible for human resources; Katharina Lange, responsible for finances; Jessica Kininger, responsible for the website and social media; and Florian Schöler, responsible for member management. We are particularly thankful to Dr. Steffen Murau who accepted the election to the executive board again, responsible for the management of Impact Groups.

Once more, CISS looks to three interesting years ahead – should you be interested in participating, the next strategy meeting is just around the corner and will take place from 28^th February to 1^st March 2020!

In particular, the team reflected on the development of CISS’s Think Tank and held a discussion round gathering ideas and perspectives for new Impact Groups that could be founded within the course of this year. Not only young people who are already part of CISS are interested in engaging further, but CISS also invited new students interested in joining CISS. We are very thrilled to say that a certainly exciting year with many new ideas to be put into practice lies ahead of us.

Another crucial topic was the start of the preparation of the upcoming elections of the Executive Board which will probably take place at the second semiannual meeting in September 2019. The team has already started to discuss how to structure the next Executive Board and it has been exciting to see that many of CISS’s current team members have expressed interest in running for a position. To further prepare the team for this transition, the current Executive Board will gradually introduce interested team members to the various subjects and responsibilities of their work throughout the next five months.

The upcoming EU elections were another hot topic during the weekend. CISS decided to run a social media campaign to motivate young people to vote and inform them of reasons for doing so. We will post statements of CISS team members with their personal reasons for coting and encourage other young people to join the campaign. We hereby strongly encourage everyone to take place in the election process and we hope that everyone knows what a responsibility and honor it is to vote.

We also want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who actively took part in our successful semiannual meeting. It was a pleasure to spend the weekend together and to work productively on CISS’s development and towards our goals. We are looking forward to meeting again at our next semiannual meeting in September and to many CISS events in the meantime.

The uniqueness of the programme thereby lies in two aspects: first, LACalytics is organized by and targeted at students and young professionals and provides them with a platform to share their opinion and to express their views on EU-LAC relations. The programme publishes articles that cover topics of relevance in Europe as well as in LAC, thus fulfilling the second aim: bi-regionality. This aim is as well fulfilled on a very personal level as the articles have been co-authored by one author from Europe and one from either Latin America or the Caribbean. The authors thereby worked with case studies to underline that Europe and the LAC-region – regardless all the differences not only between but as well within the regions – in fact share similar challenges, and to outline how both regions can learn from each other.

The articles cover a broad range of topics ranging from politics and economics, to environment, culture, and science. During the conference, the participants debated what they consider being the most pressing issues in Europe and LAC. The first pressing issue was identified as being human rights, social inclusion, and threats to democracy. Topics such as bilingual education for minority linguistic groups, Gender Ideology and LGTB+ rights, social critique in popular culture, and the role of regional organizations concerning authoritarian tendencies within their member states are analysed. The authors conclude that both, Europe and the LAC-region, need to strengthen the protection of minority rights and foster communication and mutual understanding. This includes a stronger role of regional organisations in protecting democracy.

Research on gender-inclusive climate finance builds the bridge to another key topic of relevance in both regions: climate change and sustainability. Additionally, socio- environmental impacts of gold exploitation, flood management systems, and approaches of development banks on how to combat deforestation are the research focus of the articles. Taking gender equality into account and thus strengthening the role of women was identified as one of the key success factors, as well as respecting indigenous techniques and bi-regional knowledge exchanges. Moreover, an article looking at the sustainability of lithium batteries highlights that we must not forget about the ripple effects that their usage will have on other parts of the world because global challenges require global solutions.

The shift in global power dynamics was considered being the third pressing issue, with a special focus on how the increasing presence of China in the LAC-region influences future EU-LAC relations. Diversification, appropriate regulatory framework and expanding technological cooperation hold economic and political opportunities for macroeconomic stability and strong political ties with communication and knowledge exchange being key issues. During the conference, the participants engaged in vivid debates with their peers. The findings were presented during a public event attended by representatives of the German Federal Foreign Office, the EU-LAC Foundation, the Diplomatic Corps, several companies, and the civil society.

This article was published in December’s (2018) issue of the Diplomatic Magazine.

We have invited David Wallace
Political Counsellor, British Embassy Berlin

Friday, 27 April 2018 at 6:30 p.m. in Berlin

to discuss these and other questions with us. Our foreign policy talks take place in an informal setting with a rather small group of people (around 30), therefore please register with

Elias.Reiche@ciss.eu
until 21 April 2018.

The event is open to all young people who are interested in current foreign policy issues. In case there are more registrations than seats, members of CISS will be treated preferentially. Please note that the event is under Chatham-House-Rule in order to ensure an open discussion, and will be in English.

Our evening will also be an opportunity to meet and get to know CISS, our team and a group of young people interested in international relations.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Berlin. 

David Wallace has been Political Counsellor in the British Embassy Berlin since September 2017. He is the Embassy’s senior diplomat responsible for the UK’s co-operation with Germany on foreign policy, international security, and justice and home affairs. Previously David was the Head of Policy in the British Embassy, Warsaw (2013-2017), where he oversaw the political, economic, EU, foreign and security policy teams. Earlier David was Head of Economic Section in Seoul (2004-2007); and an adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad (2003). David has worked on a wide range of issues in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London: UN, sanctions, counter-proliferation, strategic planning, Afghanistan and a review of the FCO’s consular evacuation procedures. David has a BA (Hons) in Philosophy from Reading University and an MA in International Economics from the Berlin School of Economics and Law. He speaks German and Polish.

The Chat will be hosted by International IDEA, the Impact Group’s partner for the EU-ASEAN Perspectives III project. The Agenda 2030 on sustainable development counts gender equality among its main goals and expressly calls for the involvement of regional organizations and civil society to reach this objective. Against this background, the Chat intends to provide answers for the question “How can Regional Organizations, the United Nations and Civil Society Organizations work together to achieve gender parity?” It brings together global, regional and grassroots perspectives on various gender-related issues. CISS would be happy if you joined the conversation on 7 March 2016, 4 pm CET! Follow us on @CISS_Tweets and use the hashtag #demdialog2016 to participate in the Chat!

The idea to establish a UN Parliament has been debated in policy circles for many years. The proposal is to establish a parliamentary body next to the UN General Assembly – as a pragmatic step toward a potential world parliament. Such a new body could democratize global governance by representing the world’s citizens, while being a motor for a more peaceful, sustainable, and socially just world order.

But there are many questions up to debate: What should such a body look like? How do we ensure just representation? What powers should a UN Parliament have?

We want to debate these questions with you. Around fifty students from Germany, Europe and around the world will take on the roles of national ambassadors in order to debate and negotiate the possible statutes of a parliamentary assembly at the United Nations. Those statues will then prepare the Model UN Parliaments in the coming years, when the actual world parliament will be simulated. Moreover, the program comprises workshops and a high-profile final event including a panel discussion in Berlin.

We want you to be part of this new, innovative Model UN project! You will be able to participate in a professional MUN with a topical focus on global democracy, co-creating the statutes of a new body. In this way, you will not only practice your debating and negotiation skills, but also dive deep into legal and political matters. This will be a truly extraordinary experience. The event is jointly organized by CISS and the Campaign for a UN Parliament.

Interested? Let’s debate global democracy!