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

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:

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...

This week Poland and Ukraine host the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk with a new security track added to the yearly programme. Will it be accompanied by a new air raid on Belarus that Kyiv warned against? shorturl.at/6OWGn

Nationalism is a topic that keeps resurfacing in various forms, polarising both society and the states themselves. Czech-German reconciliation could serve as a model for overcoming historical traumas, writes @martinehl.bsky.social: shorturl.at/pWEUY

The geopolitical rationale of the enlargement is now a routine talk in Brussels. Yet, it downplays the deeper logic of tackling the 'global macroeconomic imbalances' that undermine Europe's economic model, argue @wprzybylski and @ZoranNechev: shorturl.at/Gd1Ns

How serious is the current supply shock? Earlier this month @wprzybylski moderated a session at @epc_eu Brussels Economic Security Forum. Read the recap: shorturl.at/z1YMt

Narendra Modi just concluded his two-day trip to Bratislava. The visit matters beyond CEE and may set the direction for Europe's economic security and decoupling from China, writes Harsh Pandey: shorturl.at/f2qkB

EU Enlargement is back on the agenda, but membership is no longer the only prize, writes Goran Buldioski, senior Visegrad Insight Fellow: shorturl.at/jLJN

The EU has opened the first rule of law cluster of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova. Accession Conferences with Kyiv, Chișinău and Montenegro will be held in Luxembourg today. See what else will define this week: shorturl.at/Mwre3

Hungary has finally cleared Ukraine’s path into Europe. The first meeting between the leaders now seems only days away. Is this a sign of the wind of change? See what Visegrad Insight Fellows Valeriia Novak, @LucaSoltesz, @ComKlitina, Ivan Us and Yulia Dziuba have to say: shorturl.at/ojKHo

Any escalation in the Taiwan Strait would raise transport and insurance costs, destabilise just‐in‐time supply chains and force CEE governments to navigate debates inside the EU and NATO on how to respond. READ OUR NEW POLICY BRIEF: shorturl.at/IhNIm. Powered by @Instytut_ITECH.

'When a Hungarian choir sings a Miyako song under a Taiwanese baton, the audience here should not find it exotic. They should find it familiar'. @sakuya_kono explains the shared legacy of protecting minority languages in East Asia and CEE through the prism of democratic security. shorturl.at/9j3w5

How can V4 countries strengthen investor confidence and Europe's economic security and competitiveness? This week at the European Parliament, @VisegradInsight and MEP @MicWawrykiewicz co-hosted a high-level panel discussion with MEPs, experts, business leaders and investors from across the V4.

Learn how Ukraine is building up its posture – listen to our podcast interview with Balazs. YouTube: youtube.com/@visegradins... Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/7aA9iqd... Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/v... Substack: visegradinsight.substack.com/podcast

The agreement reflects the interests of all three key actors. Kyiv gains momentum in its EU accession process, Budapest secures a framework for addressing minority rights concerns and Brussels removes a political obstacle in the enlargement process, writes @BalazsJarabik: shorturl.at/5AXfQ

For the CEE region, the next Taiwan crisis might begin not with sirens in Taipei, but with silence on a factory floor. The impact will reach supply chains long before the Chinese military, writes @yehaoqin from @_europeanvalues: shorturl.at/oG1Yw

Decisive momentum is building up ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) next week. The EU is finally set to push economic statecraft measures against China's overcapacity. Beijing's 'special maritime operation' east of Taiwan is only more likely to add to that momentum. shorturl.at/bHP9g

As the EU confronts the scale of its growing dependency on China, indecisiveness is still in the room. Poland and Hungary are interesting case studies for how to move forward, writes @wprzybylski from the sidelines of Brussels Economic Security Forum: shorturl.at/vA3eh

Building resilience demands collective, grassroots effort – and Poland is at the centre of it. Last week Visegrad Insight was pleased to bring together our Fellows with @TomaszChlon, Plenipotentiary for Countering International Disinformation at @PolandMFA.

France's potential extension of its nuclear 'umbrella' to Poland is just a single step towards strengthening the bilateral cooperation and represents a significant shift in Polish-French relations, writes @SebaGobert: shorturl.at/7pSg9

@donaldtusk and @Keir_Starmer signed a PL-UK defence treaty. For London, it is a flagship attempt to reset Britain’s security relationship with Europe after years of post‑Brexit estrangement, for Warsaw – another brick in the wall of forward deterrence, writes Vitali Matyshau: shorturl.at/MPDsq

What do drone incursions in the Baltic states really mean for the region? @wprzybylski spoke with Dmitri Teperik from Estonia's National Centre of Defence & Security Awareness, joining from Narva on the Russian border. Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/9qoaeRr2Ywg Listen on Spotify: shorturl.at/pfIom

Is Ukraine ready to join the EU? Kyiv wants all six formal negotiation clusters to open in June. We surveyed our pool of fellows to assess the ambition and identify the obstacles ahead: shorturl.at/a5zDm. @yermolenkov, @ASarnatska, @RochDW, @Forostyna, @DomaradzkiSpas, @PavelHavlicek_ & others.

Serbia's President Vučić arrived in Beijing on 24 May 2026 for a state visit. This adds up to a series of high-level Chinese engagements in the EU's eastern flank and neighbourhood. Read our editorial by @arsuleymanov with expert commentary by @MatejSimalcik.

Ukraine demands faster accession into the West. For that, Budapest's blessing will be critical, although the EU will first hand the prize to Albania this Tuesday, which has already fulfilled the 'Fundamentals' cluster benchmarks. shorturl.at/6kvIV

Serbia will submit its proposal to MOL today regarding the Hungarian oil company’s bid to acquire NIS, Serbia's only oil refinery operator. The collapse of the Orbán model creates uncertainty, but also strategic openings for both Hungary and the region, writes Goran Buldioski: shorturl.at/wnoTG

'Babiš lets the far right and Kremlin-sympathising SPD party radicalise mainstream political discourse in the country' – @ASybera. The Sudeten German Congress in Brno this week exposes the rising radicalisation of the Babiš cabinet. shorturl.at/oII6R

Two Ukrainian drones crashed in an empty fuel depot in Rēzekne, hitting the final nail in the coffin of the Latvian government. Others should watch with caution – and not only in matters of air defence, writes Roberts Kits from @LaSERdomnica: shorturl.at/Egr6R

Hungary's @magyarpeterMP is coming to Poland today with a delegation comprising the @_OrbanAnita, Istvan Kapitany, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi (PhD), Szabolcs Bona, Minister Dávid Vitézy and Zoltan Tarr. shorturl.at/FHzOG

The danger for small and middle powers is clear. Avoiding deadly confrontation is a good thing, but the terms on which the world order is being negotiated send shivers down the spines of Taiwan and CEE. shorturl.at/p7EUr

Orbán’s defeat exposed the brittle logic of the informal power system, where loyalty lasted only as long as elites believed the regime would outlive accountability. Over time, inflation, economic decline and growing insecurity eroded this bargain, writes Edit Zgut-Przybylska: shorturl.at/UDGAg

Poland's wanted former justice minister and his deputy got an airlift to America by the MAGA circles. But Trump's case for saving Polish fugitives Zbigniew Ziobro and Marcin Romanowski is built on misleading premises, writes Arslan Suleymanov: shorturl.at/XEQpD

Across Europe, Magyar's victory is often seen as proof that democratic backsliding can still be reversed through elections. Yet Hungary now faces challenges even more complex than those that emerged in Poland after the downfall of PiS in 2023, writes @K_Izdebski: shorturl.at/UwMby

Warsaw is looking for friends with benefits – in defence. shorturl.at/J19AV Poland signed EU’s first SAFE defence loan agreement shortly before the Bucharest Nine Summit co-chaired by @NicusorDanRO & @NawrockiKn. PL is exploring new defence deals with Hungary, ahead of @magyarpeterMP's visit to PL.

CEE countries are falling out of love with Israel. Yet opposition to atrocities in Gaza may not be the only reason, writes @arsuleymanov.

The current energy crisis is draining Europe’s LNG storage, including in Poland, a front‑line importer of US and Qatari gas. shorturl.at/y0fFx

After years of obituaries declaring the Visegrad Group too dead to revive, is a comeback now underway? Read the commentary by @wprzybylski: visegradinsight.eu/v4-moment-of...

Romania's PM Bolojan was ousted in a landslide by the ruling PSD and the opposition AUR party. 'An important faction within the party has been unhappy with PM's reform of public administration, which deprives local administrations of funds and power. shorturl.at/xumBk

How resilient are the V4 countries against the energy supply crisis? Poland’s LNG storage stands at around 40.4 per cent of capacity, placing it in the lower-middle of EU countries that have storage capacity. shorturl.at/y0fFx

Before leaving Yerevan, @donaldtusk said that he and @RobertFicoSVK discussed the participation of @ZelenskyyUa in the V4 summit as a special guest. Almost concurrently, Fico posted a photo of himself with Tusk and Babiš. What to expect? shorturl.at/l7uOM