Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation

07/10/2026

🇲🇩 Our colleague Laurențiu Pleșca opened the conference "ATU Gagauzia after the Constitutional Court Decision: The New Institutional Context between Chișinău and Comrat" in Chișinău, on behalf of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the EU-funded ProElect project.

With Gagauzia's elections less than six weeks away, the conference brought together electoral authorities, local elected officials from the autonomy, civil society representatives, journalists, and students for an open discussion on the new institutional framework and its implications for the upcoming vote.

We thank the Civic Initiatives Center for National Minorities and Karadeniz Press for organizing the event, and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for their partnership.

06/10/2026

🇸🇪 The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), was pleased to visit the Ambasada Suediei din Bucureşti / Sveriges ambassad i Bukarest

Our Regional Director, Sergiu Panainte, and our colleague Valerii Kravets held an open and constructive exchange with Ambassador Anna Hällerman and embassy team on the recent elections in Sweden, the political situation in Romania, and key developments across the wider region, including Moldova, Armenia, and Ukraine.

We value our continued dialogue with like-minded partners who share our commitment to democratic resilience, European integration, and security in the Black Sea region.

06/10/2026

🇺🇦 The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation is pleased to share a new analysis by our colleague Valerii Kravets, published in Transitions.

The piece examines whether the newly enacted Graham Act can translate into sustained economic pressure on Russia. Russia's mounting fiscal pressures and Ukraine's strikes on its energy infrastructure open a window for coordinated transatlantic action, with direct implications for European security and for Ukraine's ability to withstand another difficult winter.

Read the full analysis:

The Graham Act protects U.S. sanctions from White House meddling, but Ukraine’s strikes on Russian oil may still be the stronger bargaining chip.

05/10/2026

Bucharest office hosted, on September 30, Michał Baranowski, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Technology of Poland, for a closed-door discussion on Polish–Romanian industrial cooperation.

Poland and Romania are the two largest economies on the EU's eastern flank. Both are rebuilding their industrial base, both neighbour a war, and both sit on the routes that will carry Ukraine's reconstruction, one from the Baltic, one from the Black Sea.

The discussion was moderated by Clara Volintiru, Secretary of State at the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and brought together representatives of Romanian private sector, think tanks and academia.

01/10/2026

01/10/2026

The Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), is proud to support the conference in Brussels.

Our director, Sergiu Panainte, delivered the opening remarks this morning, setting the stage for discussions on political finance transparency, new technologies, the protection of election observers under pressure, and turning observation recommendations into lasting reform.

15/09/2026

New policy report: Preparing for Ukraine's First Post-War Elections 🇺🇦

Our colleague Valerii Kravets, together with Oleksandr Kraiev and Yehor Valiarenko at Foreign Policy Council "Ukrainian Prism," has published a timely analysis on what it will take to hold Ukraine's first elections after the war.

The report tackles the hard questions: how out-of-country and military voting should work, why Ukraine's campaign finance rules haven't caught up with how influence is actually bought and sold today, and why donor support for civil society needs to be decoupled from a nonexistent election calendar.

Read the full report:

24/07/2026

Our colleague Bogdan Cozma writes on the EU's approach to the Middle Corridor, the trade route linking Europe and Central Asia via the Black Sea and South Caucasus.

He examines why the corridor's development remains split across separate EU programs, and considers whether the Three Seas Initiative, which includes partners such as Türkiye, Ukraine, and Moldova, could serve as a coordinating partner for the corridor's European end.

🔗 Read the full article here: https://www.gmfus.org/news/unified-platform-middle-corridor

Our Brussels-based colleague, Kadri Taştan, makes the case in "Rethinking the Middle Corridor" for seeing the corridor as more than a shipping route, it's a strategic asset that strengthens economic security, supply-chain resilience, regional ties, and EU–Türkiye relations. What matters most isn't the volume of trade it carries, but the strategic flexibility it offers.

🔗 Read the full article here: https://www.gmfus.org/news/middle-corridor-spotlight

Breadcrumb Home Press A Unified Platform For The Middle Corridor Insights A Unified Platform for the Middle Corridor The EU has the funding. The Three Seas Initiative has the pipeline. July 22, 2026 by Bogdan Cozma 6 min read Share Security and Geopolitics Strategic Infrastructure Trade, Economics,....

07/07/2026

📢 We are hiring! Join the German Marshall Fund’s Bucharest Office

The Bucharest Office of the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is looking for a Program Assistant to join our team.

This is an exciting opportunity for a motivated professional with an interest in democracy, civic engagement, international affairs, and the Black Sea region to contribute to GMF’s work supporting regional cooperation, dialogue, and democratic resilience.

As part of the South and Wider Europe Program, the Program Assistant will support the implementation of GMF Bucharest’s grant-making programs, including grant management, reporting, research, coordination with partners and grantees, and assistance with program activities and events.

The ideal candidate will have:
✔️ Experience in project or grant management within the nonprofit sector
✔️ Strong interest and knowledge of foreign policy, international affairs, and the Black Sea region
✔️ Excellent organizational, analytical, and communication skills
✔️ Strong written and spoken English skills (Romanian is an advantage)

If you are passionate about supporting impactful initiatives and want to contribute to GMF’s mission of strengthening transatlantic cooperation and democratic values, we encourage you to apply.

📍 Location: Bucharest, Romania
📅 Apply here:

 Department/Program Summary: GMF's South and Wider Europe Program focuses on the "Global South", which plays an increasingly important role amid geopolitical shifts; the Mediterranean, a crossroads for trade, energy, migration, and security; and the Balkans and Black Sea regions, which are...

30/06/2026