Central Europe

FEATURED COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

A ‘New Normal’ for NATO and Baltic Sea Security

New Atlanticist
Jul 5, 2024

Dispatch from Warsaw: Poland’s military and economic rise is coming just in time, as the West wobbles

By
Daniel Fried

Its rise at home and its strategic clarity about Russia have placed Poland in the first rank of European powers for the first time in centuries.

NATO
Poland

EnergySource
Apr 3, 2024

Central and Eastern Europe needs to rethink its approach to energy security

By
Pawel Czyzak and Nolan Theisen

The upcoming Three Seas Initiative Summit is an opportune time for Central and Eastern European leaders to pivot toward clean, affordable, and local renewables to build energy security.

Central Asia
Central Europe

New Atlanticist
Mar 6, 2024

NATO enlargement at twenty-five: How we got there and what it achieved

By
Jerzy Koźmiński and Daniel Fried

Two and a half decades after Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic joined NATO, their membership continues to protect them from Russian aggression.

Central Europe
Hungary

Featured Event

Flagship Event
Mon, June 24, 2024 • 9:00 am ET

Warsaw Week 2024: A transatlantic agenda for an era of conflict and confrontation

This series of events hosted by the Europe Center’s Warsaw Office will provide a platform to map out a constructive agenda for the transatlantic partnership.

Europe & Eurasia
Poland
Politics & Diplomacy

Program

The Europe Center promotes the transatlantic leadership and strategies required to ensure a strong Europe.

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Content

Russian Su-27 fighter jet intercepted by UK Typhoon participating in NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission, June 17, 2014

NATOSource

Oct 5, 2015

A ‘New Normal’ for NATO and Baltic Sea Security

By Anna Wieslander

It might appear natural that focus on Baltic Sea security would have come quickly for NATO after the Russian annexation of Crimea in March 2014, but this was not the case.

Germany NATO

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Nov. 18, 2014

NATOSource

Oct 2, 2015

Hungary Announces It Will Host 7th NATO Planning Center

By Reuters

Hungary, along with other states in central and eastern Europe, will host a command center to help coordinate deployment of NATO’s rapid reaction force in an emergency, the government said on Friday.

Hungary NATO

Range of Russia's Iskander missiles when deployed in Kaliningrad

NATOSource

Oct 1, 2015

Is NATO’s New Fulda Gap in Poland?

By Paul McLeary, Foreign Policy

The head of U.S. Army Europe is eyeing a narrow sliver of land connecting Poland with Lithuania, concerned about the Russian troops and equipment he has been watching pile up on either side.

Belarus NATO

NATOSource

Sep 29, 2015

Five Recommendations for Strengthening NATO’s Response to Russian Aggression

By Radek Sikorski And Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Wall Street Journal

Russia’s actions in Ukraine, as well as its military build-up and threatening words and behavior in the Baltic Sea region, show that we have not yet fully communicated to the Kremlin that it should back off.

NATO Northern Europe

In the News

Sep 29, 2015

Benitez on the Suwalki Gap

By Jorge Benitez

Foreign Policy quotes Brent Scowcroft Center Resident Senior Fellow and NATOSource Director Jorge Benitez on the militarization of the area of land between Poland and Lithuania:

Poland Russia

Issue Brief

Sep 28, 2015

Ukraine: From Evolutionary to Revolutionary Reforms

By Olena Bilan, Mike Duane, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Ilona Sologoub

Read the Issue Brief (PDF) Since the Maidan revolution, the Ukrainian government has embarked on a comprehensive reform agenda. But almost two years since the revolution, reforms are still lacking in core areas. The most prominent achievements are the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to fight high-level corruption, the introduction of a new police […]

Central Europe Ukraine

New Atlanticist

Sep 22, 2015

Will the European Union’s Plan to Distribute Migrants Hurt Europe?

By Ashish Kumar Sen

European ministers on September 22 approved a plan that would force EU member states to take in their share of 120,000 migrants, a majority of whom are fleeing the war in Syria. In an unusual break from procedure, which emphasizes consensus on issues of national sovereignty, the ministers decided the issue on the basis of […]

Central Europe Europe & Eurasia

Middle East Strategy Task Force

Sep 19, 2015

David Miliband: Europe’s Feeble Response to Migrant Crisis Threatens EU

By Ashish Kumar Sen

Former British Foreign Secretary says United States, too, must ‘up its game’ and take in more refugees Europe’s “feeble” response to the migrant crisis—the largest displacement of people since World War II—is threatening the European Union, and European countries as well as the United States need to step up to do more to help these […]

European Union Germany

Russian Su-27 fighter jets, Aug. 27, 2013

NATOSource

Sep 15, 2015

Russia has Closed the Air Power Gap with NATO, US General Warns

By Sydney J. Freedberg Jr., Breaking Defense

“The alarming thing,” said the commander of US Air Forces in Europe, is that the Russians are catching up. “They’ve closed the gap.”

Europe & Eurasia Missile Defense

New Atlanticist

Sep 15, 2015

What Europe Needs to Do to Solve its Energy Security Problem

By Ilona Dózsa

Over the past few years, the European Union (EU) has sought to enhance its energy security by implementing the Third Energy Package, proposing an Energy Union, holding Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom to competition rules, and actively pursuing the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Central Europe Eastern Europe