
Latest Articles about Central Europe

Ukraine and Hungary Move to Settle Differences Over National Minority Legislation (Part One)
Kyiv and Budapest have initiated an effort to resolve their differences over the impact of Ukrainian language and education laws on the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine’s Carpathian province (see EDM, June 3). Budapest’s position is based on a sui generis conception of Hungarian national... MORE

Hungary Looks After Its Kin in Ukraine’s Carpathian Province
Ukraine’s Carpathian province (Zakarpattia Oblast) is comparable in certain key respects with Bessarabia in the Odesa province (see EDM, May 28). Zakarpattia is another outlying territory where Kyiv’s influence is weak, local power brokers well-entrenched, the infrastructure desolate, and ethnic minorities—in this case the local... MORE

Poland Updates Its Security Strategy
On May 12, 2020, President Andrzej Duda approved the new Security Strategy of the Republic of Poland (“Strategia Bezpieczeństwa Narodowego”—SBN) (Bbn.gov.pl, May 12), which replaces long-outdated version from 2014 (Bbn.gov.pl, November 5, 2014). The SBN is the country’s most important strategic document regarding security and... MORE

Bulgaria Takes Issue With Ukraine Over Minority in Odesa Province
The parliament of Bulgaria has adopted a declaration criticizing Ukraine’s policy toward the Bulgarian minority in Odesa province (see EDM, May 26). This move might seem to indicate that Bulgaria is about to emulate Hungary or Romania, each of which, in its own way (Hungary... MORE

The E40 Waterway: Economic and Geopolitical Implications for Ukraine and the Wider Region
On April 24, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted a first reading of the bill “On Inland Water Transport,” finally codifying important planned reforms pertaining to riverine transportation in Ukraine—in particular, on the Dnipro River (Mtu.gov.ua, April 24). This new law creates a framework regulating the functioning... MORE

Baltic Pipe Will Undermine Moscow’s Geopolitical Hopes for Nord Stream Two
Moscow has been rather explicit in that it wants to use the trans-Baltic Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline to more aggressively dictate gas prices and transit conditions to Ukraine. But even as the project approaches completion, despite United States sanctions, it may ultimately fail... MORE

The E40 Waterway: The Polish Dimension
The E40 Waterway is a proposed 2,000-kilometer inland shipping route that, if completed, would connect the Baltic with the Black Sea and run through Poland, Belarus and Ukraine (Minskdialogue.by, April 20; see EDM, February 18, April 28). The project stagnated following the completion of its... MORE

West, Russia Face Off in Belarus Over Baltic–Black Sea Waterway Project
Plans for a new Baltic–Black Sea waterway, passing through Ukraine, Belarus and Poland, have the potential to revolutionize the geopolitics of Europe’s East as well as exacerbate East-West tensions (see EDM, February 18). The European Union has labeled the project “E40,” and the United States... MORE

COVID-19 Increases Importance of Middle Corridor
Following the large coronavirus outbreak in Iran, neighboring countries quickly closed their borders with the Islamic Republic. More than a thousand Turkish trucks carrying goods to Central Asia found themselves stuck at checkpoints due to the closure of the Iran-Turkey and Iran-Turkmenistan borders (Daily Sabah,... MORE

Hot Issue – They’re Gonna Need A Bigger Boat: The Curious Voyage of the Akademik Cherskiy
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Since its announcement in 2015, Russia’s proposed Nord Stream Two natural gas pipeline has remained the infrastructure project posing the largest single threat to the energy and national security of the European Union and Ukraine. The year 2019 witnessed the culmination of years... MORE