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The Price of Weak Poland – Interview with Věra Jourová

Former Vice President of the European Commission on why the CEE region is not loud enough at the high table of geopolitics

Věra Jourová believes the region’s voice is still not loud enough at the high table of geopolitics.

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Poland’s Government Needs to Double Down on the Three Seas Initiative

Warsaw must seize CEE momentum shaping Europe's new geostrategic culture

The Three Seas Initiative has so far been a presidential framework for enhanced cooperation in Europe. With Poland’s current political cohabitation – when the President and the government are from the opposing camps – it opens space for a reset. If the government does not take the initiative now, it...

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Europe is Preparing. The Baltics Want Action

Europe keeps preparing for a harder security environment. But preparation is not a strategy in itself

The 62nd Munich Security Conference (MSC) showed that the liberal international order is being actively dismantled. The question is no longer whether the order is eroding, but whether Europe is prepared to act in a world defined by power, interests and measurable capabilities. From a Baltic perspective, this shift is...

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Rubio Courted by Fico and Orbán. British and German Generals Call to Rearm

Democratic and Economic Security Outlook 2026: 16-22 February

Hitting on a conciliatory tone, Marco Rubio gathered applause from European allies in the main conference room of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) and then headed to meet leaders in Slovakia and Hungary – his first trip to those countries.

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How Rent Seeking Drives Fico’s Brussels Strategy

Slovakia's energy crisis is a political opportunity for the PM

Robert Fico’s strategy may benefit Slovakia in the short term. In the longer perspective, however, his rent-seeking behaviour will erode trust and reputation with Slovakia’s EU partners, reduce its influence in policy formation and heighten scrutiny over future EU funds allocation.

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EU’s Latest Russia Sanctions May Proliferate the Shadow Fleet in the Baltic Sea

What could be the 20th sanctions package's unintended consequences?

The new 20th sanctions package looks like a big shift in the geoeconomic game around the Baltic Sea. If implemented – it can stop most of Russia’s oil traffic in the basin. Yet it will also end the utility of the global oil price cap and G7 control mechanisms. Public...

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China’s Useful Idiot – Russia’s Deepening Integration With the People’s Republic

China and Russia are deepening coordination across energy, defence and information operations, but the relationship is asymmetrical

The relationship between Russia and the People’s Republic of China has transformed into a form of strategic coordination that allows China to benefit from the Kremlin’s willingness to absorb economic, military and political risks.

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Europe’s Leaders Retreat to Grit Teeth on Economic Security

Democratic and Economic Security Outlook 2026: 9-16 February

European leaders will retreat to a Belgian castle this week to define boundaries for the EU economic security strategy outlined by the Commission in December.

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Poland Hopes for European Armies and Bets on the US

Warsaw no longer puts all eggs in one basket but so far the US Army delivers better

While Western Europe breathed a sigh of relief at how the continent had pushed back against Donald Trump’s plan to seize Greenland, Poland took comfort in the fact that a deeper rupture between the United States and Europe had ultimately been avoided. But it is not out of the question...

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Ugly Cohabitation in Czechia – INTERVIEW

Foreign minister and president clash over power policy and cohabitation

We sat down with Pavel Havlíček, a Visegrad Insight Fellow from Czechia, to discuss how bad the clash between Petr Macinka and Petr Pavel can get.

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Poland Steels for Reduced Ukrainian Scrap Metal Exports

Warsaw asked the Commission to intervene after Ukraine abruptly banned exports of steel scrap to the EU

The Polish government and industry argue that the move will raise costs for scrap-based steelmaking, weaken competitiveness and create risks for employment. Kyiv frames the restriction as an effort to keep a critical raw material at home for domestic processing, defence needs and post-war reconstruction.

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99 Billion of SAFE Funds Will Boost the 3Seas Initiative

Democratic and Economic Security Outlook 2026: 2-8 February

Last week the European Commission approved a second major funding package for the defence industry via the SAFE mechanism. CEE countries are the primary beneficiaries, receiving approximately 99 billion euros – roughly two-thirds – of the total 150-billion-euro EU budget allocation. Poland (43.7 billion) and Romania (16.7 billion) will get...

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Democracies at War. War on Democracies

The war in Europe should be understood not merely as an external event factor engaging select democratic partners in support for Ukraine, but also a deliberate subversion from within against all EU democracies and the collective fabric of the Union. The ‘Democracies at War. War on Democracies’ report tells the story of European democratic ambitions and why the EU’s military buildup needs strengthening democratic foundations across the block to succeed.

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