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Serbia and Bulgaria did not sign the Dubrovnik declaration. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has maintained a policy of strategic ambiguity regarding NATO, while Bulgarian President Rumen Radev has voiced concerns about deepening military support for Ukraine.
EC President Ursula von der Leyen said: "Russia has repeatedly attempted to blackmail us by weaponising its energy supplies. We have taken clear steps to turn off the tap and end the era of Russian fossil fuels in Europe for good."
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.
Polish Deputy PM and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said in April that Poland’s defence strategy prioritises frontline support and rapid capacity building. He added that Poland “will not turn anyone away” from its training centres, including non-combat personnel.
In late May, Merz said Nord Stream 2 must stay closed to “weaken Moscow's war machine” and also declared that his government would “do everything” to prevent the pipeline from going online.ce
“If Ukraine falls, Lithuania is next. That’s not speculative. It’s consistent with everything Putin has said and done,” Petraeus said.
The result will extend Law and Justice (PiS) party influence over the presidency and its continued obstruction of the "big tent" pro-EU governing Civic Coalition (KO) led by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Poland’s Parliament passed new legislation on 24 May expanding the use of artificial intelligence in public surveillance, authorising facial recognition and behavioural tracking tools for use by law enforcement and municipal authorities. Real-time crowd monitoring, movement analysis The bill, backed by the ruling Civic Coalition and several allied MPs,
Nominal minimum wages in Romania and Bulgaria have more than doubled in the last decade, with the sharpest growth before 2020. Czechia and Slovakia now apply EU-aligned benchmarks for annual adjustments.
Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) gained new recognition in Dealroom’s 2025 Global Tech Ecosystem Index, with CEE capital cities Vilnius, Lithuania; Warsaw, Poland; and Zagreb, Croatia, named among the world’s top 100 emerging innovation hubs. The index, released on 21 May, ranked 288 cities worldwide. While Paris and
Centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski narrowly won in the first round of Poland’s presidential election, setting up a closely contested runoff on 1 June. With 99.75% of votes counted, Trzaskowski, backed by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO) secured 31.3% on 18 May