On Friday, November 19, SNSPA organized the BSC Dialogues workshop to analyze the geopolitical and political challenges in Central and Southeast Europe and the implications of COVID-19 in the region. The event was held in English and was structured in two sessions:
- Special Roundtable: Eastern and Central Europe in the new strategic and geopolitical environment
- New challenges in times of Covid-19 – Political and Communication Threats in Eastern Europe
Speakers addressed tensions in the region between Russia and members of the North Atlantic Alliance and the need for a strategy to manage the challenges in the Black Sea area. Russia considers the Black Sea an area of strategic interest, which gives it access to security priorities and lines of interest in other regions such as the Mediterranean, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Although in recent years NATO has initiated the Enhanced Forward Presence and intensified the number of exercises, speakers stressed the need to continue to promote a common understanding of security challenges and perceptions.
Another topic was the impact of disinformation campaigns on the pandemic. The speakers presented the results of research on online communication, more precisely in the space of social networks, of sociological studies aimed at trusting Romanians in countries and international leaders, shared values and public perception of misinformation and fake news, as well as data on increasing populism in the region.
The event gathered security and defense experts and political scientists from Central and Eastern Europe and the United States. We will present the results of the workshop during the sixth edition of the Bucharest Security Conference, an event postponed for the spring of 2022.
