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Ukrainian drones have struck at least 10 key Russian energy facilities this month alone, according to US news channel CNN. Attacks on 12, 17 and 21-22 August all targeted Druzhba's same pipeline’s southern leg.
While Hungary and Slovakia welcomed the diplomatic efforts, fellow Visegrad Four members Poland and Czechia joined the Baltic states in rejecting any settlement that bypasses Ukrainian sovereignty.
Like other strategic CRM efforts across Central and Eastern Europe, Chvaletice is emblematic of the policy-delivery gap haunting the bloc’s transition ambitions.
“For Europe, analysis of the historical data shows that a 1% drop in geopolitical alignment is associated with a corresponding 1% decline in trade intensity,” Deloitte observed.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that the duties could cost Poland more than USD 2bn and hurt agriculture and manufacturing, although he called the compromise deal a “lesser evil” to a threatened 30% tariff.
European Commission (EC) President Ursula von der Leyen agreed a new trade deal with US President Donald Trump at Turnberry, south-west Scotland, on 27 July, setting a ceiling of 15% on tariffs for EU goods and averting a wider transatlantic escalation.
Finland and Sweden abandoned their long-standing neutrality and joined NATO in 2023 and 2024 respectively, citing heightened security threats from Russia. Austria, bordered by NATO members Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia, is increasingly the odd one out in Central Europe’s defence landscape.
The model reflects past moves in Hungary and Romania to centralise economic power, often justified as way to improve implementation. Poland’s approach, however, appears more technocratic, with few political figures outside the prime minister and foreign minister elevated.
CEE contributions include cross-border logistics, public-private coordination platforms, and green recovery initiatives. Regional forums such as the Three Seas Initiative are also expected to play a larger role in financing and implementation.
The European Commission (EC) published long-term budget allocation plans on 17 July, showing Poland set to receive the highest national allocation under the 2028-34 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), totalling EUR 123.3bn.
The signatories, including Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, said the policy’s “visibility and predictability” would be compromised if merged into a broader single investment fund.
Global Peace Index (GPI) founder Steve Killelea spoke to the Central European Times on the day of the release of the GPI's 18th annual report. Despite the steep rise in militarisation in CEE, investment-led ambitions are currently limited by fragmentation, Killelea tells CET.
Producers in Poland, Czechia and Moldova are rebranding locally and pursuing new strategies to stay afloat after the collapse of major foreign markets, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Western sanctions on premium alcohol.
The withdrawal will take legal effect on 2 June 2026, making Hungary the first EU member state to exit the Rome Statute, which underpins the ICC’s jurisdiction to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Hungary has now fallen to the lowest position in the EU for actual individual consumption (AIC), despite its starting position ahead of several regional peers two decades ago.