On September 12th, EUROPEUM’s Brussels Office organized a public conference titled “Making enlargement work again: Supporting Western Balkans through the experiences of Central and Eastern Europe”. Following a keynote speech by H.E. Bálint Ódor, the panel discussions dwelled on the 2004 enlargement, its impacts on the EU and the lessons learned from the process through the perspective of current EU accession of the countries of Western Balkans.
Show moreRussia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has shattered the post-Cold War international order built upon East-West interdependence and cooperation. The European Union (EU) - which had tried to pursue a strategic relationship with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 - must now adapt to the geopolitical reality of Russian neo-revisionism. Hugo Blewett-Mundy, an Associate Research Fellow at EUROPEUM Institute, identifies four areas where the EU's policy towards Russia could evolve to confront this emerging security situation in Europe.
Show moreAre you a Master’s student from the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia keen on international relations and NATO's strategic future? Join our workshop series to engage with experts, present your views on NATO’s Open-Door policy, and network with peers from the region.
Show moreHow can the EU enlargement process regain its lost momentum? And how can we learn from previous rounds of enlargement? These questions are answered by a group of authors together with EUROPEUM Institute senior researcher Jana Juzová in a new publication within the REWEU project.
Show moreIn 2004, a total of ten new countries joined the European Union, the largest enlargement in terms of population and number of countries. EU accession has helped the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, especially in terms of economic growth and political stabilisation. Žiga Faktor, Deputy Director of EUROPEUM Institute and Head of the Brussels Office, commented on this topic.
Show moreIt has been 20 years since the Czech Republic and 9 other Central, Southern and Eastern European countries joined the European Union. This was on the promise of increased prosperity and the so-called economic catching-up of the post-communist part of Europe. Cohesion policy was to play a key role here. Vít Havelka writes in his Policy Paper.
Show moreThe post-communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, joined the European Union at the height of globalisation and the dominance of the so-called Washington Consensus policies. However, the global economic crisis of 2008 showed shortly afterwards that these policies had their limits. Read more in Klára Votavová's Policy Pepeu.
Show moreThis year, the EU marks the anniversary of the biggest wave of enlargement in its history, when the Czech Republic joined the Union along with nine other Central and Eastern European countries. One of the main promises associated with enlargement was that the new Member States would catch up with Western Europe in terms of living standards. Read more in Silke Maes' policy paper.
Show moreEnergy communities are an effective means to decentralize and renew our energy systems with sustainable solutions as they are usually based on renewable energy. They have already started emerging in 1970´s, yet there has been a significant increase in their development only in recent years, also in terms of their introduction into the EU legislation. Especially in Western and Northern European countries the concept already enjoys vast popularity. On the other hand, in Central and Eastern European countries (further referred to as CEE) energy communities are only beginning to emerge. The policy brief (based on literature and interviews with various stakeholders ) examines the benefits energy communities may bring, and more importantly, the main obstacles remaining in their way for greater evolution in the CEE region – and especially Visegrad countries (V4). As these initiatives progress, sharing the best practices will ensure the success of the community energy in the energy transition. Writes Alžbeta Gavalcová.
Show moreOn October 25th, EUROPEUM’s Brussels Office under the representation of Think Visegrad Brussels and in cooperation with Fondation Robert Schuman organized an expert discussion titled “Impact of the Russian War in Ukraine on European Security Architecture and EU’s Eastern Neighborhood”. This discussion, which was held under the Chatham House rules, gathered 19 experts from think-tanks, EU institutions, NATO and diplomats from EU Member states.
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