Southeast Europe Data

A new World Bank report reveals that Eastern Europe and Central Asia is trading 45 per cent below potential. The reshoring bonanza was supposed to be Central and Eastern Europe’s moment. Western multinationals, spooked by Chinese supply chains and Ukrainian grain corridors, have spent three years talking up ‘friend-shoring’ and ‘near-shoring’ as if discovering that Against the TIDES was originally published on Emerging Europe.

A new study suggests the South Caucasus’s banking transformation has less to do with who’s winning now than who might win tomorrow. The South Caucasus has rarely been mistaken for a banking paradise. Wedged between Russia, Turkey and Iran, the trio of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan have spent much of the past three decades navigating Banking on peace was originally published on Emerging Europe.

The EU economy defies gloom, but hardly inspires euphoria. For an economy that spent much of the past three years staggering from one crisis to another, Europe’s performance in 2025 has been surprisingly robust. The European Commission’s autumn forecast, published on November 17, reveals that GDP growth in the first nine months exceeded expectations. Real Europe’s modest momentum was originally published on Emerging Europe.

Central Asia’s pivot to Israel signals a broader realignment in Eurasia. Kazakhstan’s recent decision to join the Abraham Accords may represent the start of a transformation, not only for Israel but for two crucial regions of Eurasia. During the Cold War, America and its allies applied a successful containment strategy to prevent the spread of communism and Kazakhstan’s Abraham moment was originally published on Emerging Europe.

Poland’s high-speed rail ambitions depend on Brussels opening its wallet. Poland is readying itself to ask the European Union for billions of złoty to build its first proper high-speed railway line. The supplicant is Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK), a state-owned vehicle tasked with delivering what would be not only Poland’s largest infrastructure project but Europe’s Mind the funding gap was originally published on Emerging Europe.

Europe’s gas infrastructure binge is proving as ill-judged as it was expensive. Europe’s dash to wean itself off Russian pipeline gas has left the continent with an embarrassing surplus of import capacity. After a frenzy of construction that saw 19 liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals installed or expanded since early 2022, governments are now scrambling Europe’s LNG buildout slows amid anticipated decline in gas demand was originally published on Emerging Europe.

Brussels hopes a new fund will stop promising tech firms from fleeing to America. Europe has long been plagued by a peculiar malady: it excels at birthing innovative companies but struggles to nurture them into adulthood. On October 29, the European Commission announced yet another remedy—the Scaleup Europe Fund, a multi-billion-euro investment vehicle designed to Europe’s billion-euro bet on keeping its champions at home was originally published on Emerging Europe.

Governments must act now to prevent climate change and digitalisation from deepening inequality. Europe’s governments must act decisively to prevent deeper inequality and wider labour-market mismatches as climate change and digitalisation upend markets and welfare systems over the next two decades, threatening social cohesion and long-term competitiveness. So warns a new foresight study by WeLaR, Europe’s looming labour crunch was originally published on Emerging Europe.

Association to Horizon Europe grants access to the EU’s 93.5 billion euros science programme. Egypt this week became the second African nation to join Horizon Europe, the EU’s multibillion-euro research and innovation programme. The association grants Egyptian researchers, universities and innovators access to the scheme on terms akin to those enjoyed by EU member states. Egypt joins Europe’s research club was originally published on Emerging Europe.

The strategic role of the Astana Think Tank Forum. The international system today is undergoing its most profound transformation in decades. Global politics is increasingly defined by fragmentation, declining trust, and the erosion of institutions once designed to ensure stability. From geopolitical rivalries and economic protectionism to the disruptive impact of technology and information asymmetry, Kazakhstan as a middle power of trust was originally published on Emerging Europe.