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Annual Report 2007

International Cooperation

The aim of the program is to support democratic transition in Eastern Europe, to shape friendly Polish and EU policies towards new neighbors in the East, and to initiate as well as participate in the debate on international issues in Poland and on the European forum.

Friendly EU border

In the framework of the project carried out since 2002, we have been undertaking activities aimed at liberalizing the visa policy of Poland and other EU Member States towards citizens of Eastern Europe and at improving the standards of border services on the EU’s eastern frontier. Together with a group of non-governmental organizations from Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus we conducted the monitoring of Polish border crossing points to register the attitude of border staff toward citizens from Eastern Europe (2002-2003), the monitoring of the Polish visa policy (2003-2004) and the monitoring of visa issuing procedures by EU Member States to citizens of Eastern Europe (2005-2006). We published the results of the monitoring efforts in reports distributed in Poland, EU states, Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The findings of the reports and the resulting recommendations are used to advocate for the policy of easy access and affordable entry visas for EU’s eastern neighbors.
In 2007, we continued to disseminate the results of a 2006 monitoring of visa issuance procedures by European Union states to citizens of Eastern Europe. We presented our recommendations, among others, to the European Parliament during public hearings on the Community Code on Visas attended by European parliamentarians, representatives of the European Council and Committee, the German presidency and NGOs (February 8).
In February, we published in Polish a brief analysis entitled Poland in the Schengen Zone - challenge for visa policy which was presented, among others, at the meeting organized at Batory Foundation with the Ministry of Interior and Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Office of the Committee for European Integration, Office for Foreigners, Chancellery of the Prime Minister (February 21) and at the meeting organized by Zagranica Group (coalition of Polish NGOs working abroad) with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (October 29). We have further endeavored to inspire discourse in the Polish press about the effects that Schengen membership may have on contacts with our eastern neighbors. The topic was taken up by important press titles: Dziennik and Gazeta Wyborcza dailies and Polityka weekly.
In the latter half of 2007, we monitored border crossing points on the European Union’s external border. Border crossing conditions were checked at 19 selected border crossing points in Finland, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. We investigated the quality of the border crossing points’ infrastructure, processing procedures, time and conditions of waiting to cross the border, and the behavior of border guards and customs officers toward individuals crossing the border. The questionnaires and in-depth interviews with individuals crossing the border were conducted at each of the monitored border crossing points. Investigators also crossed the border as participatory observers. Finnish Institute of International Affairs (Helsinki, Finland), Euro College, Tartu University (Tartu, Estonia), Center for Migration Research, Warsaw University (Warsaw, Poland), Research Centre of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association (Bratislava, Slovakia), Center for Contemporary Research (Budapest, Hungary), Institute for Cultural Anthropology at Babeş-Bolyai University (Cluj, Romania), and European Institute (Sofia, Bulgaria) conducted research in particular states. Research results will be presented in a report to be published in spring 2008.
All institutions conducting the research received grants from East East Partnership Beyond Borders Network Program, for three of these grants Batory Foundation served as an intermediary.

More than neighbors

The project continues certain activities conducted previously as part of the New European Union and Ukraine and European choice for Belarus projects. Our aim is to promote integration of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) countries with the European Union. In addition to Belarus and Ukraine, we focus on Moldova as well as states of the southern Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) which are also addressees of the European Neighborhood Policy.
In 2007, we devoted much attention to energy issues, which are some of the most important matters in relations between the EU and states of Eastern Europe participating in ENP. We organized an international conference, EU – Russia: energetic game for a common neighborhood (Warsaw, May 29). Two panels, Russian energy policy toward CIS states and How should the EU respond to Russian energy policy toward CIS states? discussed the situation in the energy sector and energy policy of the EU, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, and Russia. Igor Chalupec (former CEO of Polish Oil Company Orlen, Warsaw), Vladimir Feygin (director of the Moscow Institute for Energy and Finances), Ion Preasca (editor-in-chief of the Energia journal, Chisinau), and Elena Rakova (expert in the Privatization and Management Research Centre, Minsk) took part in the first panel and Faouzi Bensarsa (Energy Adviser in the EC DG Relex, Brussels), Jacek Cichocki (Director of the Centre for Eastern Studies in Warsaw), Mykhailo Gonchar (former Deputy Chairman of the UkrTransNafta, Kyiv), and Vladimir Socor (Senior Fellow in Jamestown Foundation, Washington DC) spoke in the second panel. About 100 people participated in the meeting.
In January, we published English and Polish versions of a brief report entitled Energy conflict between Belarus and Russia: the game continues, discussing the causes and course of the dispute about deliveries of Russian oil and gas to Belarus. In August, we published English, Polish and Russian versions of a report entitled Energy game. Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus between the Union and Russia, containing recommendations on future EU energy policy toward Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus. The report was presented: at the conference Transformation of the energy sector in the EU’s eastern neighbors and the Visegrad Group (Prague, September 12-13) organized by the Association for International Affairs (AMO) in Prague; at an annual meeting of PASOS network of think tanks from Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Berlin, November 1); and at the Energy and environmental protection policy conference (Kyiv, December 1) organized by the European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity.
After the early elections in Ukraine, we organized a conference Ukrainian elections 2007 – chance for stability? (Warsaw, October 5) in cooperation with the International Renaissance Foundation from Kyiv. Conference participants discussed Ukraine’s political situation and foreign policy. Panelists included: Iryna Bekeshkina (Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Kyiv), Kost Bondarenko (Kyiv Gorshenin Institute of Management Issues), Yevhen Bystrytsky (International Renaissance Foundation, Kyiv), Anna Górska (Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw), Bogumiła Berdychowska (Polish-Ukrainian Forum, Warsaw), Anton Borkovsky, (Ukraina Moloda daily, Lviv), Yurij Yakymenko (Razumkov Centre, Kyiv), and Oleksandr Sushko (Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine, Kyiv). About 80 individuals took part in the conference.
In 2007, thanks to a grant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Polish Aid program, we continued activities to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union and transfer Polish experiences concerning Community membership to our eastern neighbors. These activities, under the common name Ukraine on the path to EU, were addressed to the institutions promoting information about the European Union in Ukraine and to Ukrainian public officials responsible for migration and refugees.
In cooperation with International Renaissance Foundation from Kyiv and Polish European Information Centers, we organized internships for 10 employees of European information centers and pro-European NGOs from 10 Ukrainian cities (September 17-28 and October 1-12). Ukrainian interns visited European information centers in Białystok, Kielce, Lublin, Płock, Poznań and Rzeszów, where they learned about the centers’ daily work and projects. In October and November, in cooperation with the interns, we organized 10 training meetings in 10 Ukrainian cities. The trainings concerned methods of informing about European Union activities. They were conducted by Polish employees of the European information centers from Poznań, Rzeszów and Płock, employees from the centers in Ukraine that had completed internships in Poland, as well as representatives of Batory Foundation and the International Renaissance Foundation. Altogether 500 individuals from Ukrainian NGOs, public administration officials, representatives of colleges, media and libraries attended the trainings. Furthermore, we published two publications in Ukrainian for those interested in developing institutions that disseminate knowledge about the Union: How to Develop European Information Centers. Polish experience and Importance of information about the EU.
In cooperation with Center for Peace, Conversion and Foreign Policy of Ukraine from Kyiv we organized a study visit in Poland for 10 representatives of the Ukrainian administration responsible for migration and refugees (September 23-29). During the visit, our guests learned about Polish experiences in the realm of migration and refugees policy and took part in a series of meetings at the Border Guards Headquarter Office, Office for Foreigners, Central Reception Centre for Refugees, Border Guards Deportation Centre, Ministry of Interior and Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Office of the Committee for European Integration. The project was summed up with a two-day conference in Kyiv on economic migration and a cycle of meetings presenting Polish experiences in dealing with emigration of Polish nationals to other EU states and immigration to Poland (November 19-22). Polish experts included: Paweł Dąbrowski (Center of Migration Research, Warsaw University), Paweł Domański and Joanna Majewska (Office for Foreigners), Marcin Kulinicz (Ministry of Labour and Social Policy). We also published Assistance to foreigners in the Republic of Poland – asylum status and residence permit.

Russia in Europe

The aim of the project initiated in 2007 is to inspire Polish and European discourse about the changes occurring in Russia and EU policy toward Russia.
In the spring of 2007, we published a Polish and English-Russian version of a collection of texts entitled Putin's Empire. The authors included: Alexandr Auzan (Institute of the Social Contract National Project, Moscow), Stanislav Belkovsky (Council on National Strategy, Moscow), Yuriy Fedorov (Chatham House, London), Igor Klyamkin (Liberal Mission Foundation, Moscow), Włodzimierz Marciniak (Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw), Marie Mendras (CNRS, Science Po, Paris), Michael McFaul (Stanford University), Arkady Moshes (Finnish Institute for International Affairs, Helsinki), Dmitry Oreshkin (Institute of Geography of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow), Arseny Roginskiy (Memorial, Moscow), Lilia Shevtsova (Carnegie Moscow Center), and Aleksander Smolar (Batory Foundation). All authors of the texts published in the book (with the exception of Michael McFaul) took part in an international conference Putin's Russia organized by Batory Foundation in 2006.
Jointly with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) we organized a seminar Russia as challenge for the EU: the German and Polish perspective (Berlin, November 26-27). Participants discussed energy issues in EU-Russian relations, Russia’ and EU policy toward common neighborhood (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova) and Russia’s role in resolving global problems. About 30 experts participated in the meeting, including: Tobias Bergner (German MFA), Roland Götz (SWP), Grzegorz Gromadzki (Batory Foundation), Danuta Jazłowiecka (Member of Polish Parliament), Roman Kuźniar (Warsaw University), Kai-Olaf Lang (SWP), Michael Link and Markus Meckel (Members of German Parliament), Marek Menkiszak (Centre for Eastern Studies, Warsaw), Marcin Nawrot (Polish MFA), Susan Steward (SWP), and Paweł Zalewski (Member of Polish Parliament).
A Batory Foundation representative was invited to take part in the newly established EU ISS Russia Task Force, run by the Paris-based European Union Institute for Security Studies. The first meeting of the group entitled Russia as a difficult EU partner was held on April 23. The goal of the task force is to exchange opinions regarding the situation within Russia, its foreign policy and EU policy toward Russia. Experts and diplomats from EU Member States, representatives of the European Council and Commission, as well as experts from Russia take part in task force activities.

Focus on Central Asia

This project was initiated in 2007 with the aim to expand cooperation between organizations from Poland and Central Asia and to promote knowledge about that region in Poland.
In fall, in cooperation with Soros Foundation in Kyrgyzstan, we began activities advancing exchange of information between Polish and Kyrgyz organizations regarding grassroot organization of civil society and building partnership relations with local administration. We jointly prepared a study visit in Poland (October 2-10) and two seminars in Kyrgyzstan (December 9-12 and 14-15). 14 representatives of the non-governmental sector from Kyrgyzstan took part in the study visit and participated in a series of meetings in Warsaw, Gdańsk, Elbląg and Nidzica with representatives of Polish NGO federations and support organizations. About 60 representatives of the NGO sector and administration took part in the seminars conducted by two Polish experts: Jerzy Boczoń (SPLOT, Gdańsk) and Waldemar Weihs (Merkury Foundation, Wałbrzych) in Kyrgyzstan at the center at Lake Issyk-Kul and in Osh.
As part of the Zagranica Group (coalition of Polish NGOs working abroad), we formed the Central Asia working group consisting of representatives of NGOs, the state administration and academic institutions, to exchange experience and ideas concerning cooperation with Central Asia and coordinate those activities. In 2007, the group had three meetings during which it sought to define the main challenges facing Poland and the European Union in Central Asia.

International election monitoring

Batory Foundation has for years been engaged in sending election monitors, recruiting i.a. polling supervisors for OSCE missions and taking part in the preparation of the Polish Observation Mission for the presidential election in Ukraine (2004) as well as for the observation mission for the elections in Tajikistan (2006).
Near the end of 2007, in cooperation with the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we recruited observers for the OSCE mission for the January 2008 presidential elections in Georgia. In the selection process, 14 observers were chosen from over 200 candidates.

Challenge project

Since November 2004, the Foundation has participated in the international project Challenge. The Changing Landscape of Liberty and Security in Europe, financed from the EU's Sixth Framework Program. The project is coordinated by the Centre for European Policy Studies and carried out by a consortium of 21 partner organizations cooperating in 17 thematic areas devoted to various aspects of security policy and its influence on civic freedoms. Project-related activities include scientific research and promotional campaigns. In 2007, we prepared two analyses on: Securitization of migration in the context of public health – Poland and Institutional cooperation in Polish border control. The prospects of Europeanisation.

Zagranica Group (coalition of Polish NGOs working abroad)

In 2001, Batory Foundation initiated and since then has been involved in the work of a coalition of Polish NGOs operating outside Poland. The goals of the Zagranica Group include: exchange of information, cooperation with public administration, participation in shaping and implementing Polish aid policy, cooperation with related associations in other states, dissemination of information about the activity of Polish NGOs operating outside Poland and garnering public support for their activities. The Group comprises more than 40 organizations. Foundation’s representative, Wojciech Tworkowski, is one of 6 members of the Executive Committee (managing board) of Zagranica Group.

In 2007, the program was financed by funds from the Open Society Institute, including East-East Partnership Beyond Borders Network Program, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (PLN 238,287.91) and the Centre for European Policy Studies CEPS (44,406.67).

Grants PLN 199,976.41
Projects implementation PLN 827,579.46
Total program costs PLN 1, 027,555.87

Grants 2007

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