Tessera

The V4 is back, and that renewal may now spill over into the 3SI format. In Bratislava, Slovak and Polish officials pointed to a more practical approach to 3SI, with measurable cross-border benefits rather than presidential declarations. What to make out of the Bratislava meeting? shorturl.at/9ZHby

Slovakia Partners Up with Poland on Pragmatic Three Seas Initiative

The penny drops The Three Seas Initiative (3SI) summits have followed a pattern since the format’s inception in 2015. Presidents from member and associated states assemble, a communiqué is agreed in a...

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Magyar's removal of the President and the head of Constitutional Court is a drastic move. Yet, it does not leave the best impression of conduct by a majority that vowed to hew close to the ideals of the rule of law while reforming the country, writes @jakubjaraczewski.bsky.social: shorturl.at/MuAdU

Magyar's Rule of Law Chainsaw Risks Cutting Down the Roots

Prime Minister's dismissal of Tamás Sulyok and Péter Polt is a perilous but necessary adventure for the rule of law in Hungary.

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Bulgaria’s electricity grid is ready for the energy transition. Its institutions are not, and those who pay in the end are absent from decision-making processes, writes Simeon Beloreshkin: shorturl.at/dD5WK Originally published in Bulgarian by @capitalbg.bsky.social

Bulgaria's Electricity Grid Needs More Grassroots Oversight

Bulgaria's electricity grid is ready for the energy transition. Its institutions are not. Can civil society take the lead?

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Building a functioning framework to identify and report suspicious activities demands civic engagement. Governments should embolden it through public awareness campaigns, targeted messaging & technology, writes Roberts Kits, a Resilient Futures Fellow from Domnīca LaSER: shorturl.at/72OdS

Citizens Are First in Line Against Russia's Sabotage in CEE

How to build an effective system of cooperation between authorities and citizens in reporting suspicious activities? The EU governments should: Raise awareness of the nature and scope of grey-zone act...

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Gambits in Budapest and Warsaw? Hungary's National Assembly has 30 days to name a successor for the presidency. Judit Polgár may assume the post instead. In the meantime, Poland's Sejm elected Sylwia Gregorczyk- Abram from as the new Ombudsperson. Check what else is on agenda: shorturl.at/ugIJi

ETS is the EU's main instrument for cutting greenhouse gases. V4 and CEE countries have played a significant role in shaping what the revision might look like. Above all, today's decision assesses V4's capability to cement its industries' respective interests within Brussels: shorturl.at/0V2i9

Lindsey Graham’s passing did what a year of lobbying could not – jolting his Russia sanctions bill back to life with more than 60 Senate co-sponsors. Poland and the Baltics should seize the narrow opportunity before the US midterm elections, writes Liam Hoffman: shorturl.at/KKu4j

CEE has a venture ecosystem and fintech companies willing to invest in security portfolios. But what is missing? We discussed that with the Polish government officials and finance industry professionals in our office in Warsaw. Read more about it in our editorial: shorturl.at/AYOpq

Drone incursions and sabotage against rail and energy routes have turned Russian pressure into a constant stress test for CEE. Marta Dermańska and Dmitri Teperik outline ways to integrate civil society into crisis preparedness frameworks, drawing on the world's best practices: shorturl.at/lVvQJ

The EU’s failure to finalise its 21st sanctions package against Russia exposes a deeper problem. By communicating the list of soon-to-be-sanctioned entities, sectors and individuals in advance, Brussels allows Moscow to better anticipate and prepare – writes Arslan Suleymanov: shorturl.at/U0RTO

Sanctions Hot Air Only Emboldens Russia

The EU's failure to finalise its 21st sanctions package due to the lack of political will and abundance of rhetoric strengthens Russia.

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Energy security is, once again, back on the menu – and this week it will test the Visegrad Group’s resolve regarding the upcoming reform of the ETS, where V4 leaders will push for delays and flexibility to save the industries and popular vote: shorturl.at/2LTPJ

Energy Security Will Not Be Solved by Committees

Security is everyone’s concern in the first place. This is not only about Hormuz, where Iran struck civilian vessels, shut the Strait and claimed strikes on its Gulf neighbours. Russia’s tanker fleet ...

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Election results in Hungary and Bulgaria surprised many. What shaped them, however, was brewing long before voters reached the polling stations – in contested media environments and fragmented information spaces, argue election experts Rasťo Kužel and Beata Martin-Rozumilowicz: shorturl.at/XvmqD

Captured vs. Fragmented. What Hungary and Bulgaria Reveal About Modern Elections

‘Public media shouldn’t lie. We’re sorry for doing it for years. Public media is going through a change so it can be independent and trustworthy in the future. Broadcasting is paused for a while. Stay...

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What can CEE countries learn from Finland’s model of total defence? RF Fellow Marta Dermańska explains how Finnish civil preparedness rests on trust, a clear division of roles and decades of joint training – principles that CEE countries should adapt rather than copy wholesale: shorturl.at/yY7YZ

Poland and Sweden agreed to procure three A26 submarines from Saab for the Polish Navy. The deal must not come as a surprise, as the Nordic-CEE corridor is now fast becoming the backbone of European security and economic architecture, writes Adam Rogowski: shorturl.at/cGv04

NATO Summit in Ankara starts today. Leaders will talk about money, contracts and stockpiles – as they should. But without the intellectual 'big bang', financial and industrial leaps forward would bring nothing but hot air, writes @wojciechprzybylski.bsky.social: visegradinsight.eu/nato-summit-...

As NATO leaders gather in Turkey this week, Moscow is escalating its cognitive warfare against the West and sending another barrage of deadly attacks on Kyiv: visegradinsight.eu/nato-summit-...

The 31st anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide on 11 July presents a great opportunity for Magyar’s government to dismantle the network Orbán has built across the Balkans over many years, writes Endre Bojtár, editor‑in‑chief of Magyar Narancs: visegradinsight.eu/ending-denia...

Honoured to see Alina Sarnatska, 2026 Resilient Futures Fellow, presenting the findings of our recent workshop on the European Centre for Democratic Resilience (ECDR) Stakeholder Platform in Brussels. The full version of the policy brief is available on our website: visegradinsight.eu/reports/

Ukraine is losing the demographic foundation it needs to remain a functioning democratic state, with fewer residents and many military‑age men living in exile, write Resilient Futures Fellows Alina Sarnatska and Laurynas Peluritis, together with Arslan Suleymanov: visegradinsight.eu/ukraine-surv...

Ukraine’s recovery can go two ways. It can rebuild a grant‑fed press or it can build newsrooms that pay their own way and answer to no patron – only the second option can create truly free media, writes Resilient Futures Fellow @taavil.bsky.social: visegradinsight.eu/ukraine-media/

In just one week, CEE countries banked the revived V4 summit, the URC in Gdańsk, a Taiwanese semiconductor park replacing Intel’s abandoned site and a 2.3‑billion‑euro submarine contract for Poland to be signed today. See what else is shaping this week in the full Weekly Outlook:

The V4 Is Back and So Is the Money

Central Europe, and Poland in particular, has rarely banked so much in five days. The Visegrád Group (V4) prime ministers (PMs) reconvened on 23 June at the Royal Palace in Gödöllő for its first leade...

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What does European defence actually entail – and why is it not only about military power but, above all, democracy and civil society? Tune in to the VI Podcast, where Commissioner @andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu and @wojciechprzybylski.bsky.social discuss Europe's defence readiness. Links are below.

Wojciech Przybylski spoke with Péter Krekó from the Political Capital on why the new Hungarian government sees V4+ as a foreign policy priority and how Hungary's relations with its neighbours may develop in the near future: visegradinsight.eu/hungary-want...