European Neighbourhood Council

27/04/2026

🎵 Missed the film screening? We’ve got good news.

Following its international premiere on 14 April 2026 at Cinema Galeries in Brussels, The Solitary String (Zhalgyz Ishek) is now available online.
This documentary explores how traditional Kazakh music served as a vessel for historical memory under censorship and repression, with the dombra and küi preserving lived experiences when written records could not.

Watch here 👉 bit.ly/4cJYRaj

22/04/2026

On 13–14 April 2026, the European Neighbourhood Council (ENC) hosted two consecutive events in Brussels 🇧🇪 under the Cultivating Audience Resilience through Amplification of Vibrant and Authentic Narratives (CARAVAN) project, funded by the EU 🇪🇺 and implemented by Internews.

🔎 On 13 April, over 50 participants gathered to discuss new research on foreign information manipulation and interference ( ) in 🇰🇿 and 🇺🇿. The event opened with remarks from Irène Mingasson, Head of Unit at the Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), European Commission.

Report findings were presented based on -assisted monitoring of 581,000+ social media posts from October 2025 to February 2026. A panel discussion followed, moderated by Meera Selva (CEO, Internews Europe), with Samuel Doveri Vesterbye (ENC), Dmitri Surnin (Internews), Dr. Shairbek Dzhuraev (ENC & Crossroads CA), and Dina Zhansagimova (Internews Kazakhstan) exploring what tailored, country-specific responses might look like, from expanding local-language content and platform-native media.

Key findings from the research include:
🔹 Telegram is the primary platform for FIMI, accounting for 88% of activity in Kazakhstan🇰🇿 and 61% in Uzbekistan 🇺🇿
🔹 Russia 🇷🇺 was identified as the main external actor by all experts interviewed
🔹 Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 is primarily affected by locally targeted narratives, particularly those undermining Western partnerships and civil society, while Uzbekistan 🇺🇿
is more exposed to transnational, globally oriented content
Read the full report: 🔗 https://bit.ly/4cJYRaj

🎶 On 14 April, 70 participants gathered at Cinema Galeries, within the historic Galerie de la Reine, for an evening dedicated to Kazakh cultural heritage. The event opened with remarks from Io Kerstin Schmid (FPI, European Commission), Saida Manieva, (Internews), and MEP Ilhan Kyuchyuk, who reflected on the growing depth of 🇪🇺–Central Asia relations, noting that the EU is today Kazakhstan's🇰🇿 largest trading partner, and underlined the role of culture, media, and civil society as integral to that partnership alongside trade and politics.

The centrepiece of the evening was a screening of The Solitary String, a documentary film that traces how instrumental music, küi, emerged as a profound form of cultural resistance under Soviet rule, reclaiming it not merely as folklore but as a living archive of memory and identity. Following the screening, Küi practitioner and researcher Rustem Nurkenov gave a live dombyra performance, which continued with a Q&A session moderated by Dina Zhansagimova (Internews Kazakhstan).
🔗 Read more about the events:https://bit.ly/4cJYRaj

18/03/2026

📣 New ENC Analysis 👉 “Helping End the War in Gaza: What Does the EU Get?” by Assoc. Prof. Ebtisam Hussein (ENC Academic Council Member and Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of London branch of the European Universities in Egypt)

The paper examines the European Union’s 🇪🇺 efforts to help end the war following the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli military offensive, arguing that while the 🇪🇺 emphasises humanitarian assistance and civilian protection, its engagement is also shaped by strategic interests such as preventing regional instability in the Middle East and North Africa.

🔗 Read the full analysis here: https://bit.ly/4lDbnwg

27/02/2026

📣 On February 17, our Head of Projects and Research, Asuman Kübra Baş, spoke at the Beyond the Noise: Literacy and Tackling Conference, organised by the European Union Delegation to Türkiye and hosted by Kadir Has University.

She addressed Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference ( ), focusing on its relevance in the current geopolitical context and its implications for information integrity, democratic processes, and .

Read more🔗 bit.ly/4s7jaVc

24/12/2025

As the year draws to a close, the European Neighbourhood Council wishes you Season’s Greetings.🎄

Thank you to our community, partners, and readers for engaging with our research and ideas throughout the year.

We wish you a peaceful holiday season and a productive year ahead.

26/11/2025

📢Our Managing Director Samuel Doveri Vesterbye participated in the TÜBA-EMAN Conference on Un/Governance in the Mediterranean Region and the Global System, organized by Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA).

Marking the UN’s 80th anniversary, the conference brought together academics, policymakers, and public figures to discuss key challenges in governance, human security, energy, sustainability, human rights, and cultural exchange in the Mediterranean and beyond.

Mr. Doveri Vesterbye delivered a presentation on “Securing Europe’s Cognitive Frontline: FIMI, Digital Connectivity and EU-Türkiye Relations,” sharing ENC’s findings on Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference, security and regional connectivity.

🔗 Read more about event: http://bit.ly/4afoujw

19/11/2025

📣Our Head of Projects & Research, Asuman Kübra Baş, has authored a new Turkish-language article for Daktilo 1984, examining the European Union’s response to Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). The piece explores the EU’s behaviour-based FIMI methodology, Russia’s and China’s information operations, the impact of the war in Ukraine on the information environment and the Union’s new institutional framework (European Democracy Shield) for combating FIMI.
🔗 Read full piece in Turkish: https://shorturl.at/BMRxx

📣 Projeler ve Araştırmalar Direktörümüz Asuman Kübra Baş, Daktilo 1984 için Avrupa Birliği’nin yabancı bilgi manipülasyonu operasyonlarına verdiği yanıtı inceleyen yeni bir Türkçe yazı kaleme aldı. Yazı, AB’nin davranış temelli FIMI metodolojisini, Rusya’nın ve Çin’in bilgi manipülasyonu operasyonlarını ve Birliğin Avrupa Demokrasi Kalkanı çerçevesinde bu operasyonlara nasıl karşılık vermeyi planladığını ele alıyor.
🔗 Yazının tamamını linkten okuyabilirsiniz: https://shorturl.at/BMRxx

13/11/2025

📢 New ENC Analysis 👉🏼 “Words and Wires: Understanding Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) and Why It Matters for the EU and Türkiye” by Asuman Kubra Bas, Head of Projects & Research at the European Neighbourhood Council.

The paper examines how Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference ( ) incidents unfold across Europe, explaining the tactics and techniques used by foreign actors and their wider implications for the 🇪🇺 and 🇹🇷. Drawing on recent EEAS FIMI Threat Reports, open-source investigations, and new research on coordinated online behaviour, it highlights the importance of early coordination, behavioural monitoring, and cross-border cooperation, including through the new , to build resilience against evolving disinformation threats.

Read here🔗 https://shorturl.at/A3Szs

15/10/2025

: Don’t miss the analysis by our Academic Council Member, Denis Cenusa, on Ukraine’s 🇺🇦 and how it has been affected since the Russian 🇷🇺 invasion 👇

Ukraine's gas production has been severely affected (the largest since the start of the 2022 war):

1) Russia is determined to destroy domestic gas production in Ukraine, targeting major plants in Kharkiv and Poltava, as part of its military strategy;

2) National gas producer Naftogaz is demanding international assistance to revive Ukrainian gas production (which it claims will provide up to 19 bm3 or around 90% of the gas consumed in Ukraine by 2024);

3) The destruction of critical gas infrastructure when the winter season kicks off indicates that Russia’s military calculus will be heavily dependent on how Ukraine will cope with the "war of energy attrition";

4) The scenario(s) Russia envisions include:

-rising gas import costs;
-increased socioeconomic costs for the economy, the state apparatus, and the population;
-a new wave of refugees heading to the EU (fueling pro-peace political positions); and
-the disruption of the Ukrainian military's defense capabilities.

03/10/2025

📣 Our Director Samuel Doveri Vesterbye and Head of Projects & Research Asuman Kubra Bas spoke to Daktilo1984 on:
-How Foreign Agent Laws shrink civic space and threaten democracy (with Georgia as a key example)
-How Foreign Information Manipulation & Interference ( ) poses broader challenges for civil society, trust, and democratic resilience in and beyond
🔗 Read the full interview in Turkish below and English here: bit.ly/3VK7ERw

🎙European Neighborhood Council ekibinden Samuel Doveri Vesterbye ve Asuman Kübra Baş ile Yabancı Ajan Yasaları'nın etkilerini konuştuk.👇

https://daktilo1984.com/d84intelligence/roportaj-yabanci-ajan-yasasi-avrupa-birligi-ve-sivil-toplum/

01/10/2025

Our Managing Director, Samuel Doveri Vesterbye, shares an analysis on Germany’s 🇩🇪 shift in defence contracts from US 🇺🇸 suppliers to Euro-Turkish 🇪🇺🇹🇷 companies, part of new multi-billion programmes.

👇 Read his full analysis below:

✳️ German 🇩🇪🇪🇺 & Euro-Turkish 🇪🇺🇹🇷defence companies are now (officially) being funded more than their American 🇺🇸 counterparts (by new 🇩🇪🇪🇺 multi-billion 💶 contracts)👇

✳️ The Euronews article (see below) reveals how recent legal German 🇩🇪🇪🇺 contracts have decided to fund Euro-Turkish defense (🇫🇷🇹🇷🇩🇪🇸🇪🇪🇸🇵🇱+) in military-defence sub-contracts worth €80+ billion. This is part of Germany’s 🇩🇪🇪🇺 (CDU Chancellor Merz) new lifting of defence spending over 1% of GDP (worth €500+billion in upcoming years).

✳️ German 🇩🇪🇪🇺 government plans 154 major defence procurements between September 2025 and December 2026, with only 8% from US 🇺🇸 suppliers compared to the previously heavy reliance on US 🇺🇸 systems.

✳️ This new trend shows how new leadership and vision under Chancellor Merz in Germany 🇩🇪🇪🇺 is taking concrete steps to funding European defense integration rapidly and thereby building an unprecedented level of strategic autonomy on the Continent.

✳️🖇️ Full article: https://lnkd.in/eG4jzRUD

30/09/2025

📢 New ENC Analysis 👉🏼“Karakalpakstan: Not separatists, but separate” by Bruce Pannier (ENC External Advisor, longtime journalist, Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, Research Fellow at the Turan Research Center, and Fellow at the Delphi Global Research Center)

has long faced overlapping challenges from the ecological collapse of the Aral Sea and resulting public health impacts to economic hardship and political tensions. In this ENC Analysis, the author traces the region’s complex history, examines the causes and consequences of the 2022 protests, and highlights ongoing development efforts as well as the prospects for the Karakalpak people in the years ahead.

🔗 Read the full analysis here: https://shorturl.at/m8brh