Valerii Zaluzhnyi: Future Diplomat or Politician?

Eastern Team

IEŚ Commentaries Brief 1083

Hanna Bazhenova - Eastern Team

On 7 March 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the candidacy of former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Valerii Zaluzhnyi for the vacant post of Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Following the president’s announcement, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba confirmed that...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1079

Michał Paszkowski - Baltic Team

Lukoil plans to sell its refinery in Bulgaria

For years, companies from the Russian Federation have been acquiring attractive energy assets around the world, including in Central European countries. The introduction of EU sanctions following Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine has restricted the operations of some of these companies. This is the situation with the Burgas refinery in Bulgaria, owned by the...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1076

Marlena Gołębiowska - Baltic Team

Proposals for new fiscal rules in the EU: the perspective of Central European countries

The reform of public finance architecture in the European Union focuses on solutions that, on the one hand, will allow member states to ensure long-term financial stability, but on the other hand, will not stifle economic growth and the planned reforms and investments in strategic areas. Of particular importance from the point of view of Central European countries is the proposal...

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Baltic Team, Visegrad Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1075

Jakub Bornio | Damian Szacawa - Baltic Team, Visegrad Team

Sweden in NATO: Relevance for Central and Eastern Europe

On 7 March 7 2024, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and the state’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström handed over the accession documents to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who, as representative of the Washington Treaty depositary state, officially announced that Sweden had become the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. Sweden’s presence in...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1074

Aleksandra Kuczyńska-Zonik - Baltic Team

Security as a priority in Polish-Lithuanian relations

Poland and Lithuania have significantly strengthened their political relations recently, as numerous official visits at the highest level have reflected. Lithuania was visited by the Foreign Minister of Poland, Radosław Sikorski, then President Andrzej Duda, Speaker of the Sejm Szymon Hołownia, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Representatives of both countries have confirmed...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1071

Michał Paszkowski - Baltic Team

Natural gas demand decline in the Baltic countries in 2023

The Baltic countries have recorded another consecutive year of declining natural gas demand in 2023. Initially, such a situation was related to the COVID-19 pandemic and high commodity prices on exchanges in Europe (the result of price manipulation by Russia in 2021 and then the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022). It is now expected that the projected economic growth in 2024 and the...

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Baltic Team

- Baltic Team

Webinar: Security, disinformation and resilience. The case of the Visegrad Group / February 12, 2024.

We invite you, together with Asociace pro mezinárodní otázky / Association for International Affairs, to watch the webinar: Security, disinformation and resilience. The case of the Visegrad Group, which took place on February 12, 2024. – Tomáš Kriššák, Information Security Specialist, Slovakia – Pavel Havlíček, Research Fellow of the Association for...

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Baltic Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1055

Michał Paszkowski - Baltic Team

Crude oil terminals in Central European countries in the era of the shift away from Russian commodities

There are six crude oil terminals in the Central European countries of the European Union, supplying a total of sixteen refineries, several of which are located outside the EU. Due to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, these terminals have been unloading tankers from countries that have not previously supplied crude oil to these refineries, or if they have, sporadically, in 2023....

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Baltic Team

- Baltic Team

Serhii Plokhii in Conversation with T. Stępniewski: Russia-Ukraine War, and Poland-Ukraine Relations

Serhii Plokhii in Conversation with T. Stępniewski: Russia-Ukraine War, and Poland-Ukraine Relations Serhii Plokhii is the Mykhailo S. Hrushevs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian History and the Director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University. His interests include the intellectual, cultural, and international history of Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on Ukraine....

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Eastern Team

IEŚ Commentaries 1047

Piotr Oleksy - Eastern Team

Moldova is on the road to the EU. What about Transnistria?

Transnistria will pose a significant challenge in the process of the Republic of Moldova’s accession to the European Union. Until now, the issue has been relegated to the background. There have also been numerous suggestions that Moldova could join the EU without the separatist republic. In reality, however, these propositions should be regarded as part of a political game over...

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