Dear friends!
Many prominent political figures from their traditional New Year's greetings, repeated from year to year with almost the same greetings, just swapping words or picking synonyms to them .Usually we hear statements such as:
"Last year was a difficult (complex, difficult, hard, etc.), but ...” Next come optimistic assurances that all will be certainly significantly better next year than in the previous year. It does not leave a feeling of deja vu.
If you add up all of the previously said, mankind steadily in its development tends to the Stone Age. However, the course of history suggests otherwise. Sometimes happen significant deviations in the progressive development of progress. However, they do not determine the future. History is made by not "well-informed" pessimists but optimists. Personally, I consider myself to be optimist. Much has changed over the centuries, and changed for the better. At the same time I would like to wish us not lose the many positive things that were accumulated in previous years.
As the head of the European social organizations I cannot ignore the topic of relations between the EU and Russia. There are certainly a lot of problems, distrust, prejudices. But it is not fatal and irresistible. Even by virtue of its geographical location the Russian Federation and the European Union are obliged to cooperate, to continue to work today and will cooperate in the future. There are no doubts in this. European Union objectively needs a strong and prosperous Russia, and Russia - a stable European Union. "Brexit" - is not the end of European unity, it is the transformation into a more stable union.
Probably, there is no point in endless enlargement of the EU, leading, as the practice shown, only to its weakening. As there is no point of being in the EU of those countries, which were not initially interested in the wide inter-state cooperation. The future for the widest cooperation in all spheres must be built on the basis of equality and mutual interest.
My congratulations to all the citizens of the European Union and the CIS with Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I wish that every coming year will be better than the previous! I wish you peace, health and happiness!
Igor Bondarenko
President of the European Academy of security and conflictology
President of the European Foundation of Slavic Literature and Culture
Professor, Doctor of Law