Beijing is changing the shape of its own foreign policy. It wants to look like a power to the world and is moving away from a diplomatic tone. The emphasis is on the domestic audience to which it is emphasising its strength, says China expert RICHARD Q. TURCSANYI.

In July, the Commission published its second report on the rule of law in the EU. Although developments in Slovakia have been turbulent over the last two months, this is a different category of problem than in Poland or Hungary. Slovakia should not be a vocal critic in the V4, but a positive example, the panelists agreed.

Slovak Katarína Kertýsová was also in the group that advised the NATO Secretary General on what topics the Alliance needs to reflect on in the next decade. She said the allies need to prepare for a wider range of threats than in the past. If the two percent commitment to defence spending were reformed, states would also invest in addressing them, not just in military capabilities, she says.

The transfer of data across the Atlantic has been halted by the EU Court of Justice because of US surveillance laws on non-residents. Washington and Brussels have therefore been negotiating for months how not to restrict a vital part of the digital economy because of it. According to Martin Husovec, this is a geopolitical dispute about the nature of the rule of law: 'If we accept that privacy is a universal right, the American position will change,' he says.