Who Is Competing for Influence in Europe? | Dimitar Bechev

Europe is no longer only shaping its neighbourhood. It is also an arena where Turkey, China and Russia pursue competing strategies to influence the continent.In this episode, Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Dimitar Bechev, Senior Fellow at Carnegie Europe, about his new book 'The Scramble for Europe: Russia, China, and Turkey Challenging Regional Order'.Bechev argues that Russia, China and Turkey should not be treated as a coherent anti-European bloc, as each pursues a distinct strategy. Russia seeks to revise the European order, China aims to deepen Europe’s economic dependence and Turkey seeks a more advantageous place in Europe’s political architecture.How should Europe respond? Can it retain agency in an increasingly geopolitical era? Listen to the episode.Subscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: ⁠visegradinsight.eu⁠. Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a yearly subscription:⁠ https://visegradinsight.eu/membership...Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.

Péter Magyar’s first 100 days in office have already brought a wave of institutional change and reforms aimed at breaking with Orbán’s system in Hungary. The new government is still enjoying strong public backing, prolonging Magyar’s honeymoon so far. But how long can it last?Wojciech Przybylski returns to speak with Péter Krekó about Hungary’s transition after TISZA took power. Krekó assesses Magyar’s first 100 days in office, the government’s push to reshape the rule of law and democratic institutions in Hungary.YouTube: ⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@visegradinsight⁠⁠Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/visegrad-insight-podcast/id1515725435⁠Substack: ⁠⁠https://visegradinsight.substack.com/podcast⁠⁠Subscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: ⁠⁠visegradinsight.eu⁠⁠. Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a yearly subscription:⁠⁠https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/⁠⁠Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.

In just three years, Ukraine scaled its annual defence production from roughly one billion euros to 50 billion euros. The EU Commissioner for Defence and Space argues that a combination of digital talent, demand-side doctrinal change and civil society mobilisation drove that transformation, and that the EU has not yet matched this model and therefore needs to bring Ukraine into its defence thinking. At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk on 26 June 2026, Visegrad Insight editor-in-chief Wojciech Przybylski sat down with European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius for a wide-ranging conversation on what Europe can – and must – learn from Ukraine's military-industrial transformation.YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@visegradinsight⁠Apple Podcasts: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/visegrad-insight-podcast/id1515725435Substack: ⁠https://visegradinsight.substack.com/podcast⁠Subscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: ⁠visegradinsight.eu⁠. Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a yearly subscription:⁠https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/⁠Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.

The conversation covers Péter Magyar's outreach to Warsaw, Prague and Bratislava, the proposed V4 plus Austria configuration and Magyar's wider ambition of adding four more partners, with Romania, Slovenia and Croatia named as candidates.Przybylski and Krekó weigh the strategic realignment between Poland and Hungary on Russia and Ukraine, the limits of that convergence over enlargement and fast-tracking, as well as the lingering memory politics dispute between Warsaw and Budapest.Check the podcast on alternative platforms: Youtube, Apple Podcasts, SubstackSubscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: ⁠visegradinsight.eu⁠.Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a ⁠yearly subscription⁠.Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.

Hungary has dropped its two-year veto on Ukraine's European Union accession, clearing the way for the first cluster of negotiations to open in mid-June.Recorded on 6 June 2026 in Cres, Croatia, on the sidelines of the Europe's Future Initiative fellows gathering, Wojciech Przybylski talks to Balázs Jarábik about the deal that ended the deadlock between Hungary and Ukraine. Jarábik is an award-winning analyst and decorated diplomat. He is the founder of Minority Report, an independent policy consulting firm and think tank based in Bratislava, Slovakia.The conversation then opens out into three tracks. First, the question of the Hungarian minority in Zakarpattia and why it carries such weight in Hungary's foreign policy. Second, the European game of the new Magyar government. Third, and most consequential, the emergence of a more ethno-national, post-Maidan Ukraine that, in Jarábik's reading, will lead with defence integration while EU accession slows, and will use its military weight towards its neighbours.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@visegradinsightSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7aA9iqd8rUxFMYMemjikuwApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/visegrad-insight-podcast/id1515725435Substack: https://visegradinsight.substack.com/podcastSubscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: visegradinsight.eu. Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a yearly subscription:https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.

Drone incursions over the Baltic states have caused their first major political casualty: the collapse of Latvia's government following the resignation of Defence Minister Andris Sprūds. But is the political fallout proportionate to the actual threat? And what do Baltic societies make of it all?Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Dmitri Teperik, Resilient Futures Fellow at Visegrad Insight, joining from Narva on the Russian border. They discuss the political immaturity driving overreactions, the gap in intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, Russian disinformation framing the attacks as Baltic-originated, and the 18-month window before the Baltic Drone Wall becomes operational in early 2028.Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/9qoaeRr2YwgSubscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: visegradinsight.eu. Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a yearly subscription: https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.

What did Donald Trump actually achieve in Beijing, and what does it signal for Taiwan and the security of Central Europe? Wojciech Przybylski, Editor-in-Chief of Visegrad Insight, is joined by Marcin Jerzewski, Visegrad Insight Fellow and Head of the European Values Center for Security Policy think tank in Taipei, to unpack the outcomes of the Trump-Xi summit of 17–18 May 2026.They examine China's use of discourse power to shape the narrative around Taiwan, the strategic ambiguity now surrounding US arms sales, diverging EU member state approaches to China, and the concrete ways Central Europe and Taiwan can deepen cooperation, from drone supply chains to non-red technology partnerships.This episode draws on an ongoing Visegrad Insight report on Central European perspectives on Taiwan scenarios through the lens of economic security. Watch this space.Subscribe to Visegrad Insight for access to all our content, live and online events: visegradinsight.eu. Use code VISEGRAD35 for 35 per cent off a yearly subscription: https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/Visegrad Insight is powered by the Res Publica Foundation, Warsaw.Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1kYQnreH1lD9eDEOFJrfUp?si=vY7E0d5-S7Kjdb_tFOOIDAListen on Apple Podcasts:Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xRntS_U6KkE

Bulgaria has its most decisive electoral shift in a generation. But who is Rumen Radev — reformer or risk? Wojciech Przybylski is joined by Spasimir Domaradzki, assistant professor at the University of Warsaw and Visegrad Insight Fellow, for an immediate post-election assessment recorded on 20 April 2026, less than 24 hours after the results.They examine Radev's two faces: his track record of pro-Russian positioning and ambiguous statements on Ukraine versus his image as an anti-corruption outsider and former fighter jet pilot; the collapse of state-capture actors Boyko Borisov and Delyan Peevski; and whether Bulgaria could follow Hungary's trajectory as a disruptive force inside the European Union.Read Spasimir's article for Visegrad Insight: https://visegradinsight.eu/bulgaria-votes-russia-hopes-for-new-orban/Visegrad Insight Weekly Outlook: https://visegradinsight.eu/bulgaria-radev-will-test-europe-resolve-on-russia/Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BkbUM0HnP48Listen on Spotify:Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/bulgaria-has-its-strongman-who-will-rumen-radev-turn/id1515725435?i=1000763047577&l=en-GB

Hungary’s historic parliamentary election on 12 April 2026 produced a landslide result, with Peter Magyar's Tisza party winning a supermajority with 136 seats in the 199-seat National Assembly and leaving just 57 seats for Viktor Orbán's Fidesz–KDNP. Almost 80 per cent of Hungarians cast a ballot, with a narrow majority voting for change.In this episode, Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Luca Flora Soltesz, a Budapest-based contributing editor at Visegrad Insight, about what this change means for Hungary and for Europe as a whole, how a new generation of voters helped decide Orban's future and what Hungarians feel and speak about after this 'revolution of dignity'.Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QQI3Z3A8oFor more insights, analysis, events and member-only content on Central and Eastern Europe, subscribe to Visegrad Insight: https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/ (use special promo code Visegrad35 for 35 per cent off an annual subscription)

One year after US President Donald Trump's 'Liberation Day' tariff announcements, Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Elisabeth Braw, Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and author of Goodbye Globalisation, about the accelerating unravelling of the global trading order.They discuss whether globalisation can be reprogrammed, why China is winning the game of economic statecraft, how the United States has undermined the very coalition needed to counter Beijing, and what realistic strategies Europe has left — from the Mercosur deal to manufacturing partnerships with India, Vietnam and the Philippines.The conversation also turns to the maritime order and how Iran, China, Russia and, increasingly, the United States are eroding the legal frameworks that make global shipping possible, and what the consequences will be for prices, security and Europe's economic resilience.This episode was recorded on the sidelines of the Resilient Futures Fellowship programme, organised by the Res Publica Foundation and PZU Foundation in Warsaw.Subscribe for weekly analysis on democracy, security and the economy in Central and Eastern Europe: https://visegradinsight.eu/membership-account/membership-levels/Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KktH76CjjkYListen on Spotify:Listen on Apple Podcasts: