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-QQI3Z3A8o

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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.

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As Hungary ramps up pressure over oil transit, sanctions and European support for Kyiv, Yuliia Dziuba joins Wojciech Przybylski to explain how these moves are received in Ukraine. From the Druzhba pipeline dispute to Viktor Orbán’s political calculus, this episode examines whether Budapest is merely obstructing or actively weakening European solidarity at a critical moment in Russia's war against Ukraine.

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Poland is withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention and debating landmines on its eastern border. At the same time, nuclear ‘sharing’ ideas are resurfacing as Europe scrambles to rebuild deterrence.

In this episode, Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Agata Kleczkowska, assistant professor at the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a Resilient Future Fellow, about where security policy ends and international law begins.

We cover:

- What Poland’s exit from the landmine ban signals for Central Europe

- Civilian protection, deterrence and the problem of ‘temporary’ weapons

- Nuclear umbrellas, French capabilities and the legal red lines of non-proliferation

- What ‘democratic resilience’ means in legal terms

- Why the international legal order is eroding, and why that matters for smaller states.

Agata Kleczkowska is a Resilient Futures Fellow at Visegrad Insight, powered by Res Publica Foundation and PZU Foundation. Learn more about the fellowship programme: https://visegradinsight.eu/resilient-futures-fellowship/

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Budapest is accusing Kyiv of delaying repairs to the Druzhba pipeline and threatening to restrict electricity and diesel exports to Ukraine while blocking EU measures to support Kyiv. But are these decisions really made by Viktor Orbán in Budapest, or are they shaped elsewhere?

In this episode, Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Visegrad Insight fellow Zsuzsanna Szabó, an energy and geostrategy expert based in Oslo, about Hungary’s deep dependency on Russian crude, the political economy of MOL’s margins and the ‘utility bill reduction fund’, and why the Druzhba standoff hits the Hungarian government where it hurts ahead of the April election.

They also discuss Hungary’s threats towards Ukraine, Croatia’s potential role via the Adria pipeline and why sanctions veto politics can look less like Hungarian national interest and more like Kremlin interest.

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In this Visegrad Insight podcast, Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Sigita Struberga (Latvian Transatlantic Organisation, Organisation Women for Security) about what the 2026 Munich Security Conference revealed about Europe’s strategic direction, defence-industrial reality and the eastern flank’s expectations of partners.

We discuss:

– Why ‘national interests’ rhetoric is back and what it means for the Euro-Atlantic community

– ‘Rearmament without warmongering’ and the politics of long war preparation

– Baltic ‘total defence’ thinking, societal resilience and the demand for measurable results

– EU defence industry modernisation and the coming competition inside Europe

Read Sigita Struberga's article based on this conversation: https://visegradinsight.eu/europe-is-preparing-but-baltic-states-want-action/

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Wojciech Przybylski speaks with Maria Repko, Deputy Director at the Centre for Economic Strategy in Kyiv, about how Ukraine’s economy functions under winter blackouts, missile attacks and a war-driven defence industry boom.

In this episode:

– What daily life looks like in Kyiv at -20 degrees with rationed electricity and broken heating
– Why Ukrainians reject the ‘resilience’ label and what it obscures
– Poland–Ukraine cooperation after Donald Tusk’s visit and the shift from ‘emotional’ to ‘rational’ politics
– The SAFE mechanism, EU defence funding and why Ukraine’s defence industry iterates faster
– What to expect from the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk
– Why ‘closing the sky’ matters more than any reconstruction cheque
– Frozen Russian assets and what Europe signals by keeping them immobilised

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00:00 Guest intro: Ukraine’s economy under war
00:25 Podcast intro and context
01:38 Kyiv winter, vulnerability and survival
02:08 Heating destruction and electricity rationing
04:21 ‘We do not like the word resilience anymore’
05:16 Poland’s visit to Kyiv, new cooperation agenda
07:58 From ‘emotional’ to ‘rational’ bilateral politics
11:16 Subscription message (promo code)
11:40 Ukraine Recovery Conference and diplomacy track
13:15 Why the conference matters (Berlin, Rome, now Gdańsk)
14:23 A new defence pillar and business-driven recovery
15:13 ‘Close the sky’: prevention over recovery
17:21 Where frozen assets sit and why it stays opaque
18:50 Europe’s credibility and deterrence signal
29:51 Why financial support underpins state capacity
30:56 Deterrence logic and Russia’s military spending
32:29 Why Russia is not preparing to stop
34:07 Outro

President Petr Pavel accuses Foreign Minister Petr Macinka of blackmail, triggering what may become an emerging constitutional crisis.

In this videocast, Wojciech Przybylski and Pavel Havlíček discuss what the scandal means for Czech foreign policy, defence spending and the stability of Andrej Babiš’s coalition, including the influence of the ‘motorists’ movement and Filip Turek.

Read the text version of the interview: https://visegradinsight.eu/macinka-pavel-scandal-cohabitation-czechia/

Our analysis on the topic: https://visegradinsight.eu/political-cohabitation-in-czechia-turns-into-a-house-of-cards-play/

Pavel Havlíček is a 2021/2022 Marcin Król Fellow at Visegrad Insight. He is also a Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (AMO) Research Centre. His research focus is on Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine and Russia, and the Eastern Partnership.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-f1dKl4GlXI

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Wojciech Przybylski talks with Radu Albu-Comanescu (Babeș-Bolyai University, Visegrad Insight Fellow) about what the World Economic Forum revealed about geostrategy, defence and the new rules of engagement from Washington, with uncomfortable implications for Central and Eastern Europe.

In this episode:

– Why this Davos felt ‘geopolitically consistent’

– Reactions to the ‘Board of Peace’ idea from Central and Eastern Europe

– Greenland and the High NorthRomania and Poland’s balancing act: economic security in the European Union, hard security with the United States

The China question Europe keeps postponing, at its own risk

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Is 2026 the last year of war or the first year of peace in Europe?

In this Visegrad Insight online discussion, Monika Sus and Wojciech Przybylski map out the key forecasts for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) in 2026 and beyond: where democratic security is most vulnerable, and what ‘war fatigue’ and hybrid warfare can do to elections and institutions.

The conversation weighs plausible 2026 scenarios for the Russia-Ukraine war, including the risks of a ‘pause’ rather than a settlement, and assesses how the United States, Russia and China shape Europe’s security system. It also explores Europe’s readiness for turbulence: defence production, resilience against sabotage and disinformation and the strategic stakes of European Union enlargement, from Ukraine and Moldova to the Western Balkans.

This episode is for anyone searching for a sober prognosis of what could happen in 2026, from political dynamics to security risks and economic security choices.Recorded online on 15 January 2026.

Watch on YT: https://youtu.be/UwKmeijXz-Y

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tRPrp0jZWuWqd1UiNkVGv?si=qZHmFrW6T_29apn_Zt6lMgListen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/at/podcast/the-last-year-of-war-or-peace-foresight-for-2026/id1515725435?i=1000746025538&l=en-GB