Video recording of the 1^st Session - Video recording of the 2nd Session -  Video recording of the closing Session

On December 13 2024, UPF organized and International Leadership Conference at the Vienna Diplomatic Academy, in Austria, on the theme: “Europe and Ukraine: Common Perspectives and Values”. The event was co-hosted by the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES) and the Ukrainian Peace Council.

The conference followed the Fact-Finding Tour initiated by UPF Europe and Middle East in Kyiv, Ukraine, in November 2023, when a Round Table had been organized by the Ukrainian Peace Council at the Drahomanov University of Ukraine, and a visit made of the Peace School project run by UPF Ukraine.

The Vienna conference was an opportunity for Ukrainian participants to present their views on the current war situation in their country, and on the prospect for a common future between Europe and Ukraine.

The participants of the conference were invited to the Austrian Parliament by MP MMag. Pia Maria Wieninger for a sightseeing tour and a discussion on the situation in the Ukraine.

   

  

The first session, entitled “Europe – Ukraine: A Common Cultural Heritage” was moderated by Czech UPF President Juraj Lajda and opened by greetings from the conference co-hosts, UPF Austria President Peter Haider, and Dr Volodymir Novokhatsky, Vice President of the Ukrainian Peace Council.

After thanking Ukraine for welcoming 90,000 Ukrainian refugees, Dr Novokhatsky introduced his organization. Established in 1951 by eminent Ukrainian figures, the Council was led after independence by Ukraine’s First President, Leonid Kravchuk, till his passing in 2022. Led today by Prof. Mykhailo Zgurovsky, former Rector of the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, the Council functions both as a governmental and non-governmental institution to meet the needs of civil society for the sake of peace in Ukraine.

   

   

Dr. Werner Fasslabend, AIES President and former Austrian Minister of Defense, was the first panelist. After briefly commenting on European democratic ideals, he referred to the war in Ukraine in the new context created by the upcoming Trump administration.  He realistically described the challenges Ukraine will face on the path toward EU integration and urged the Ukrainians to stay the course and not waver in their objectives.  

Dr Vasyl Kremen, the president of the National Academy of Educational Sciences of Ukraine and a former Minister of Education, underlined Ukraine’s ideological and mental affinity with Europe, as well as their religious connections. He described their common political traditions, insisting that “Ukraine is returning home to the European family of nations”.

Prof. Angela Mickley, a professor of Peace Education at Potsdam University in Germany, shared about her rich experience in conflict resolution, from Northern Ireland to South Africa, where she helped find ways of communication between hostile communities and fighting parties. She highlighted some of her key principles, such as the need to “separate the perpetrator from the deed”, and to respect both the victim and the offender in a conflict.

Dr Viktor Andruschenko, Rector of Drahomanov Ukrainian University and President of the International Association of Rectors of Pedagogical Universities of Europe, spoke on the “Educational Potential of Peace”.  To overcome threats of totalitarianism, he said, education plays the most crucial role. He pleaded for resuming the Association’s project of a Pedagogical Constitution of Europe, interrupted by the war, which intends to make teachers the “guarantors of civilization’s longevity”.

Amb. Valery Tsybukh, an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and president of the Council for Environmental Security of Ukraine, spoke of the role of Ukraine NGOs, such as the Ukrainian Peace Council, on the path toward European integration. Their focus is “post-war economic revival - not just recovery”, he said, meaning a qualitive transformation aiming at a “renaissance” of Ukraine through innovations and advanced technologies.

The second session, moderated by UPF Central Europe President Dieter Schmidt, began with greetings by Ukraine UPF president Dr Mykhailo Ilin, who has been maintaining the UPF Peace School educational project despite the challenges of war.

  

   

Dr Yaroslav Yuvsechko, Vice President of the National Association of Religion Study in Ukraine, gave a brief review of the religious landscape of Ukraine since the beginning of the war. He described the emergence of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which since 2018 received 1500 religious communities that transitioned from the Moscow Patriarchate-related Ukrainian Orthodox Church. He noted the patriotic alignment of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, and a diversity of trends among protestant churches and Muslim organizations.

Hon. Lukas Mandl, Austrian Member of the European Parliament, reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s full support for Ukraine. Religion may sometimes be misused, he said, but this does not change the essential values it promotes, such as human dignity. Freedom is not achieved by political means, it is God-given, it just needs to be protected by politics. Ukraine will integrate Europe, he concluded, but it must first win the war and go through a long reconstruction process.

Prof. Tetyana Fedunova, Head of the Association of Schools of Kyiv City and vice president of the UNESCO association in Ukraine, shared about the traumatic experience of school children under daily missile attacks by Russia. She explained about the Peace School project that she is leading with UPF in Ukraine, whereby students are trained as “Junior Peace Ambassadors”, meeting with diplomats, politicians, foreign students, and learning to develop through serving others. As the national coordinator of UNESCO schools in Ukraine, she is developing a Junior Ambassadors of UNESCO project with Ukraine students.

Dr. Afsar Rathor, a former UN Peacekeeping Mission Executive, shared some of his experiences with conflict around the world, and concluded with an overview of the prospective costs of Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. He insisted on the benefits Ukraine integration would bring to the European Union, for instance in the domain of the Green Deal project. Ukraine’s potential renewable energy output is seven times the European Union’s demand, he said.

Since presentations focused on the highly topical issue of the war in Ukraine, in the presence of eminent Ukrainian scholars and educators, they raised great interest from the audience and both panels concluded with questions and passionate comments.

   

In closing, UPF Europe and Middle East Co-chairman Jacques Marion explained about UPF’s contribution to the project of a Universal Peace Charter recently launched by the Cambodian government, aiming at the establishment of an international framework for solidarity and peace between states, and between states and non-state actors. He announced the launch of an Asia Pacific Union Forum at the upcoming UPF World Summit in Korea in April 2025, in the presence of parliamentarians from around the world. The Forum will address the issue of tensions in Northeast Asia and on the Korean Peninsula which directly impact Europe through the war in Ukraine.