Europe

From July 1 to December 31, 2024, Hungary held the presidency of the EU Council. The presidency underscored Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's foreign policy approach: a clear separation between communication and day-to-day operations. Despite growing tensions between Orbán and EU leaders, as well as unresolved disputes with key EU institutions, the Hungarian presidency has done its work accordingly in the second half of 2024. 

For the Hlas party, whose candidates won big in elections to the national legislature and the presidency in Slovakia, harsh anti-EU rhetoric and disinformation was a new tactic in the elections to the EP –  the wrong one, as it turned out.

At the turn of the millennium, the eastern enlargement of the European Union was understood as part of the liberal “end of history.” In the mid-2020s, it has long been evident that history has ended neither in Central and Eastern Europe nor in the EU. Today, we can reflect on the 20-year membership of Central European nations in the EU with respect to their former ambitions.

Fidesz performed worse in terms of vote share than in any previous European Parliament election; however, this does not mean they were a total failure. The election results are unlikely to derail the Orbán regime in the short term, but a newcomer has entered the political arena who could be a serious challenger in the 2026 parliamentary election. At the European level, since the far-right parties are likely to remain fragmented due to ideological and political differences, their influence on decision-making remains limited, while Orbán seems to be swimming against the tide even on the far right.

Cooperation among the countries of the Visegrád Group is directly dependent on the current political situation in each country. In recent years, the alliance has attracted attention for its criticisms of Southern European countries and its anti-immigration rhetoric. While the more liberal of the Visegrád countries tend to blindly imitate the West, the nationalists dream of a conservative Central Europe.

In the Czech Republic, the environment remains sidelined as a policy issue in comparison to many other EU Member States. While there have been some positive developments thanks to EU measures and financial support, numerous challenges remain unresolved.

Karel Schwarzenberg (1937-2023) died on 11 November 2023. We remember him as a passionate European with whom the Heinrich Böll Foundation has always been closely associated. We will miss his foresight, his judgment and his humor.

On 1 July 2022, the Czech Republic took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. Our office Directors in Brussels and Prague, Eva van de Rakt and Adéla Jurečková, analyse the priorities of and challenges facing the Czech EU Council Presidency.

We declare our full solidarity with Ukraine. We stand by the side of our Ukrainian partners and colleagues, and at the same time also by the side of our partners in Russian civil society who are under harsh state repression.

Germany has voted. The SPD, Greens and FDP come out of the elections as the winners, but take a very different view of the results – depending on their expectations and the pressure they feel upon them to act. By and large, the trend towards a party system in which no single party dominates continues. Constituency seats played a very particular role in these elections. This brief analysis provides an overview of the initial results, with a more comprehensive, empirical analysis to follow in the next few days.