The Polish Cultural Institute in Madrid, in collaboration with the European Commission Representation in Spain, is organizing the talk “On the Eastern Border of the European Union: Poland Facing the Russian Strategy and Challenges for the EU,” between Marc Marginedas and Paweł Zerka, on June 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Europa Pavilion at the Madrid Book Fair, Buen Retiro Park, Madrid.
The discussion will analyze, from the perspectives of Poland and Spain as well as within the broader context of recent international events, the issues related to the EU’s eastern border, more than four years after the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Topics to be addressed include the evolution of the conflict and the assessment after more than four years of war, the security challenges on the European Union’s eastern flank, and the propaganda and disinformation strategies used by Russia to project its influence in other countries.
These issues will serve as a starting point for a broader reflection on the challenges currently facing the European Union and on the role played by its member states—particularly Poland and Spain—in shaping the future priorities and lines of action of the European project.
Marc Marginedas, born in 1967, is currently a senior editor in the International section of “El Periódico,” where he has worked since 1995. A specialist in the former Soviet Union and the Arab-Islamic world, he was a correspondent in North Africa between 1995 and 1998, covering the Algerian Civil War. Subsequently, between 1998 and 2002, he served as a correspondent in Moscow, where he witnessed Vladimir Putin’s rise to power. Between 2002 and 2014, he worked as a special correspondent in various conflict zones, covering the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the emergence of the Arab Spring. In 2015, he returned to Moscow, from where he reported until the start of the invasion of Ukraine. He currently researches Putin’s Russia, its propaganda mechanisms, and its links to organized crime and international terrorism. Between 2013 and 2014, he was kidnapped by the Islamic State in Syria.
Paweł Zerka is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), where he has worked since 2017. As the organization’s leading public opinion analyst, he directs research projects based on surveys and data analysis on international affairs. His areas of expertise include global trade policy, Latin American politics, and the roles of Poland and France in the European Union. Based in the Paris office, he previously worked in Poland as a foreign policy expert. He holds a PhD in Economics and a Master’s degree in International Relations from the Warsaw School of Economics.