Political developments

Premiér ČR Andrej Babiš

Czech Senate and regional elections 2020: Bitter victory for the Prime Minister, dominance of the opposition in the Senate

Analysis
During October there were elections to the regional assemblies and one-third of the Senate in the Czech Republic.The outcome can be summarized as follows: The Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement of Andrej Babiš had the best showing in the regional contests, but their potential coalition partners lost ground, and as a consequence, ANO will be part of coalition governments in just some regions. Opposition parties gained strength and the left absolutely failed. In the Senate elections, the clear victor was the Mayors and Independents (STAN) movement, and we can call the Social Democrats the most defeated, as they did not defend a single seat.  Both elections were marked by concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, and many people perceive the outcome to be a kind of overture to the elections to the Chamber of Deputies that await the Czech Republic next year.
By Štěpán Drahokoupil
Demonstration in memory of murdered journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová. Bratislava, March 2nd 2018.

In a Normal Country: The impact of the killing of Ján Kuciak on the administration of justice in the Slovak Republic

Analysis
In Slovakia in February 2018 the journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová were murdered. Their killing has brought about a fundamental shift of political power in the country, leading to the prosecution of high-profile defendants, including the man accused of ordering the murder. Three years later we can state that even though the man who ordered the hit has not been punished, there is a chance that this crime will eventually result in an improvement in the administration of justice in the country.
By Marek Káčer
ilustrační foto

Czechs and migration: Solidarity lost in transformation

Article
“I will not bring 18-year-old Afghans to the Czech Republic because I consider it a security risk,” said Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček of the Social Democrats at the beginning of the year, when the country was asked to take in 40 unaccompanied migrants and refugees from Greece’s overflowing refugee camps. He had reiterated different variations on that position before then and has repeated them since, most recently after the blaze that razed the Moria camp on the island of Lesbos to the ground, leaving thousands of unaccompanied minors and hundreds of parents accompanying their children homeless.
By Adéla Jurečková
Political developments »

Europe

Slovakia after the murder of J. Kuciak

Political Map of Slovakia Two Years after the Tragedy of the Murder of Ján and Martina Rewritten

Article
February 2020 will be written into the modern political history of Slovakia as a month with a great turning point which combined in a special way two dramatic themes in the internal political development of the country. The first area was a two-year civil society effort to make a major social change after the investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancée Martina Kušnírová were murdered in February 2018 by order of the mafia. The second area was the overwhelming victory of the opposition over the dominant party, Smer-SD, in the parliamentary elections of 2020.
By Grigorij Mesežnikov
Slovakia 2020: Search for Parliamentary Winner(s)

Slovak 2020 General Elections: Analyses of Parliament Scenario(s)

Article
Slovak political landscape is exceptionally fragmented ahead of February 29 general elections. One of the last opinion polls published before the election polls moratorium foresees eight parties to be represented in the parliament. However, conceivable scenarios include 6 to 12 parties possibly entering the parliament.  This pre-election analysis was published by EuroPolicy in cooperation with the Prague office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.  
By Zuzana Gabrižová
Europe »

Focus on Hungary

    Gender Democracy

    Protest proti nastupující normalizaci v srpnu 1969 (Praha)

    Women and Revolution: The Protests in 1969 After Entering the Period of "Normalization" in Czechoslovakia

    The Prague Spring ended with the Soviet Invasion in August 1968, when many had lost their faith that the regime can change, and the political representation has any degree of independency to Moscow. During the first day of occupation, 58 civilians had died as a result of shooting, explosions, or various accidental deaths. Many citizens who were abroad at that time chose to not come back. Yet there was a resistance to the events.
    Gender Democracy »

    Publications

    Political integration of Hungarian students, 2019

    After a four-year absence, the Active Youth (Aktív Fiatalok) Research Group has returned with a new survey about the political attitudes of higher education students in Hungary. The significance of this year’s findings relies on the fact that the political views of the majority of students sampled in this most recent survey – including some born as recently as 2000 – were formed during consecutive terms of prime minister Viktor Orbán and his government, considered by many political scientists and commentators to be a hybrid regime.

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    Political integration of Hungarian students, 2019

    After a four-year absence, the Active Youth (Aktív Fiatalok) Research Group has
    returned with a new survey about the political attitudes of higher education students
    in Hungary. The significance of this year’s findings relies on the fact that the political
    views of the majority of students sampled in this most recent survey – including
    some born as recently as 2000 – were formed during consecutive terms of prime
    minister Viktor Orbán and his government, considered by many political scientists
    and commentators to be a hybrid regime.

    pdf

    Phantom Menace. The Politics and Policies of Migration in Central Europe

    Despite the presence of migration in the discourse of politicians, media and the general public in recent years, there is a persistent lack of facts about the life situations and motivations of newcomers to Europe. With this book the the Heinrich Böll Foundation and the Institute for Public Affairs aim to contribute to a fact-based debate on the politics and policies of migration in Central Europe. 

    pdf

    Democracy

    In many countries around the world people are protesting against injustice, abuse of power, dire living conditions, and they are campaigning for higher standards. In the process new forms of citizens’ participation in political and administrative processes are evolving. We support all attempts to achieve greater democratisation and participation.

    The City is for All

    Katalin Rodics

    Attila Mong

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