Debate: How the Civil Society Leaders Must Update Their Plans To Match the EU Defence Posture Challenge

From the war in Ukraine to the migrant crisis, the EU’s ability to anticipate and adapt has been put to the test.

On 28 October, we organised a debate How the Civil Society Leaders Must Update Their Plans To Match the EU Defence Posture Challenge with Goran Buldioski and Maia Mazurkiewicz, moderated by Wojciech Przybylski. The discussion explored key topics:

• Resilience & Preparedness: Have EU countries truly become more resilient, or are there still gaps?
• Civil Society’s Role: Local organisations are crucial in crisis response – but need stronger EU and national support and stable financing.
• Balancing Levels: True resilience lies in bridging EU-wide strategy with national realities.
• Human Dimension: Resilience isn’t just logistics – it’s emotional and psychological strength too.
• Strategic Foresight: Europe must better anticipate challenges – with more bottom-up insight from member states.

Read the latest Visegrad Insight’s report War on Democracies. Democracies at War – EU Values Foresight for the Next Five Years.

This debate was a part of the European Commission’s Citizens, Equality, Rights, and Values (CERV) programmes, and involved a Visegrad Insight-led 3-year engagement across Central and Eastern Europe: https://visegradinsight.eu/eu-values-foresight/

Photos by Mariusz Bodnar: