Ukraine Energy Exports Resurrected

Ukraine’s grain glut in Central Europe angers farmers, putting governments under pressure just as discussions about integrating Ukraine into NATO and the EU intensify among allies.

This week on Visegrad Insight:

• Miles R. Maftean and Wojciech Przybylski review the state of democratic security in CEE in a new quarterly report.
• Michał Matlak analyses options for Europe’s long-term Russia policy.
• Viktoryia Kolchyna discusses the current state of the Belarusian opposition.
• Jan Farfał gives a snapshot on the latest in Bosnia & Herzegovina.

EU/REGIONAL

• Ukraine repaired its power grid and is able to resume electric power exports to CEE. It first connected to the EU grid on 24 February 2022, just before the first Russian bombs fell. By summer it was exporting 400 MWh/month (Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia) but these were brought to a halt by Russian air strikes against infrastructure in October. The power grid is now resilient enough to resume exports.
• Finland joined NATO on Tuesday, 4 April, becoming the 31st member of the alliance. NATO’s border with Russia doubled by length. Sweden’s NATO membership remains subject to ratification from Hungary and Turkey. 
• Macron and Ursula von der Leyen visit in China revealed European disunity on Taiwan and the overall strategy towards the Middle Kingdom. While UvdL stressed that a military solution to Taiwan and arms deliveries to Moscow were red lines for Europe, Macron pleased his hosts with statements that Europe should pursue “strategic autonomy” and not follow blindly US lead.  
• EPP cancelled the meeting in Warsaw, originally scheduled for this week, following the police raid of EPP offices in Brussels.
• Nuclear energy on course to be recognised in EU’s green objectives after France and Central European countries push, French Minister of Energy Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher told media. No such agreement is reached, however.

Interesting re Politico: