To achieve reconciliation you should have enough strength, a reference system and leadership skills – Tony Blair

The three things are requisite for reconciliation – to have enough strength, a reference system to move forward and leadership skills, stated Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the UK (1997 – 2007), during the working lunch “Towards Reconciliation” at 11th Annual Meeting of Yalta European Strategy (YES) on Saturday in Kyiv.

Blair reminded while he headed the government he “worked on the reconciliation” in the Northern Ireland, and then in the Middle East. “There are three fundamental lessons I’ve learnt”, - he emphasized, adding that nevertheless every situation differs.
“You need enough strength to achieve the balance of power, second, some reference system should be in place wherefrom to move forward, third, you should be ready to realize leadership, to lead the way”, – specified the founder of Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
Blair added that the leaders engaged in reconciliation processes were usually criticized, so they should be ready to that. “Reconciliation is among the most difficult leadership processes. Indeed, it is the easiest thing to gather people who agree with you, to make a passionate speech and get a battery of applause, and it is the most difficult thing being a leader to speak to the contrary, to say “No”. You can tell people: “I know you want me to go this way, but I would like to achieve reconciliation. This is where leaders perform an act of leadership”, - noted the ex-Prime Minister of the UK.

Yalta European Strategy (YES) is the leading public diplomacy platform in Eastern Europe to develop strategies for Ukraine and Wider Europe and promote Ukraine’s European integration. YES was established in 2004 by Ukrainian businessman and public figure Victor Pinchuk and is led by a distinguished board including President of Poland (1995-2005) Aleksander Kwasniewski, former Secretary General of NATO (1995-1999) and EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy (1999-2009) Javier Solana, and others.

The 11th Yalta European Strategy (YES) Annual Meeting will be streamed live at yes-ukraine.org in English and Ukrainian.
The official Twitter of the 11th YES Annual Meeting: @YES_Ukraine, Hashtag: #YESUkraine2014

Special Partners of the 11th YES Annual Meeting include:
DTEK, ALFA-BANK (UKRAINE), BURISMA HOLDINGS
Partners of the 11th YES Annual Meeting are:
SHELL, INTERNATIONAL RENAISSANCE FOUNDATION
Media Partners of the 11th YES Annual Meeting are:
ICTV, UKRAYINSKA PRAVDA, NOVOYE VREMYA STRANY (NV), ERA FM