The Czech Presidency of the EU Council: Europe as a task Analysis 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. By Eva van de Rakt and Adéla Jurečková
Solidarity with Ukraine 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. By Dr. Ellen Ueberschär and Barbara Unmüßig
Swedish Ambassador: “Feminist policy” prompts discussion more than gender balance does Interview A feminist approach is transforming the system much more than traditional foreign policy has, says Swedish Ambassador for Gender Equality and Coordinator of Feminist Foreign Policy, ANN BERNES. According to her, in the beginning the concept of feminism in politics surprised even the Swedes themselves. ”The giggle effect is there no more, because our experience is that change is possible,“ she claims. By Lucia Yar
MEP Neumann: I have no problem with white men. I just have a problem when only white men are at the table Interview Some are complaining about quotas, but those complaints are the best indicator that we need them, says German MEP Hannah Neumann. She confirms that it was partially a stroke of luck to “sneak the F-word” into the European Parliament Report on Gender Equality in EU Foreign and Security Policy that she co-authored, calling on EU Member States to adopt a Feminist Foreign Policy. By Lucia Yar
A brief analysis of the German federal election 2021 Analysis 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. By Stefanie John
The Horrifying Right to One’s Own Context: Seven Rules of Culture Warfare Essay The conflicts dividing contemporary society do not necessarily reflect the right–left dichotomy. This transformation of the political map is linked to a transitional situation in which the feuding parties’ very identities are subject to change. The invasion of politics into the personal and the moral spheres of life enables virtually anybody to take their own part in culture wars. By Ondřej Slačálek
Current Populism in Europe Publication The book Current Populism in Europe: Gender-Backlash and Counter-strategies aims at exploring populism from various new conceptual, empirical and methodological perspectives. pdf
Croatian elections 2020: The Green Wave reaches Croatia Analysis After the Croatian election, significant novelties have appeared on both sides of the spectrum, including emergence of sizeable green force in parliament. By Tena Prelec
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
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