Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled May 16 on a state visit to China to meet President Xi Jinping in a display of the increasingly close ties between Moscow and Beijing, despite the threat of more sanctions.
In early May, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Europe for the first time since 2019. The destinations of the visit were France, Hungary and Serbia. China sought to improve its relationship with Europe, but relations remain tense.
Magyar's TISZA party seems to attract not the voters of Fidesz, but those of a few smaller opposition parties that may now struggle to cross the threshold to enter parliament.
The EU has set up the Ukraine Facility that is backed with the recently approved four-year €50bn support package that will provide funds for Ukraine’s reconstruction amongst other things.
Exorbitant international B2B payment transfers are a barrier to cross-border trade for enterprises in the Western Balkans, a World Bank analysis shows.
Lots of figures are thrown around about the cost of supporting Ukraine in its defence against the Russian invasion. I have myself used a $100 billion a year price tag for keeping Ukraine in the war, and likely a $50 billion a year post-war.
Poland’s defence investment and its central position vis-à-vis Ukraine are contributing to the growth of Poland’s status in the EU.
Coal mining export earnings set to once more drive growth, but country badly needs to wean itself off fossil fuel revenues. Creation of a sovereign wealth fund a move in that direction.
Hudson Institute says move towards secession could in turn spark broader ethnic conflicts in Balkans.
External environment improves for Russia – March trade surplus doubled to $16.8bn compared to average values in January-February; current account surplus rose to $13.4bn.
Under the influence of electoral calculations for the year 2024, political processes in Georgia and Moldova have acquired a geopolitical component of significant proportions.
The long-delayed allocation of $61bn by the US Congress gives Ukraine yet another chance to negotiate peace with Russia without losing even more lives and territory, provided it succeeds in stalling the current Russian offensive.
Eastern EU members are growing much faster than the eurozone, but must focus more on innovation for a full catchup.
Apathy and lack of trust in national institutions, combined with ‘convergence fatigue’, have created favourable conditions for populist forces that have degraded the quality of institutions in many of the CEE states that joined the EU in 2004.
Although Armenia and Azerbaijan are now the closest they have been to signing a peace treaty in the last 30 years, there is a high probability that it will not be signed.
The early withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping contingent from the Karabakh region in Azerbaijan is a pivotal event for the South Caucasus.
Ukraine’s economy has proven to be resilient and is beginning to recover. But the weight of the war is still weighing heavily on the country and Russia’s intensified bombardment of recent months caused some analysts to lower their GDP forecasts.
20 years after the accession of Central Europe, EU enlargement can be seen as an engine of economic growth, even if it was not a success everywhere and in all areas.
After a long wait, the US aid package for Ukraine of almost $61bn got the last seal with President Biden's signature on April 24, 2024. The sizeable package focuses especially on military material aid.
Researcher says Kazakhstan is no mere “node in Beijing’s transregional geoeconomic strategy”. Such thinking obscures Chinese actors’ adaptive approach to local interests and overlooks gains Kazakhstani actors “skillfully extracted”.