The President of the Club de Madrid and Co-Chair of the NGIC, Vaira Vike-Freiberga led the discussions along with Members of the Club de Madrid and the NGIC Boris Tadic (President of Serbia) and Óscar Riba (President of Andorra). Rexhep Meidani, President of Albania and Club de Madrid Member was also present in the gathering
The discussion ranged from sharing specific experiences in transition situations (Balkans, South and Central and Eastern Europe) to an assessment of the actual political context in Ukraine and its geopolitical consequences. The global political system is in a current state of crisis. This in itself is manifested through a series of crises that are related to both regional conflict situations (from Eastern Europe, to the Middle East) and some fundamental transnational issues.
These crises are causing growing mistrust and antagonism and are also a direct result from a lack of trust. Vision and leadership are needed to overcome the political divisions and to reinforce and re-examine democratic culture, on the one hand, and international commitment on the other. Agreements that once were in place to maintain peace have been breached and no longer hold, creating vacuums. Both CdM and NGIC agreed that the issue of Building Trust in Wider Europe was a priority and both committed themselves to exploring concrete initiatives that would help revamp security mechanisms in the region.
